Every game at this point in the season is an important one for the Mountaineers with tournament hopes in mind, but they were unable to get it done at home, losing to Texas Tech 78-72 to drop their third straight game.
After empty possessions to start for both teams, Erik Stevenson hit a three coming off of a screen to make the Mountaineers 1/1 from the field to start. He hit another from beyond the arc on the next possession as well to get out to a hot start on the offensive end.
A three from Texas Tech gave them their first lead of the night at 7-6, but Tre Mitchell responded with one of his own for the Mountaineers, who up to this point have scored exclusively from the triple.
Despite another nice jumper from Stevenson for his eighth point of the half, the Red Raiders hit another from deep to get within one.
A five second call forced by Tre Mitchell made it Texas Tech’s sixth turnover through the first seven and a half minutes of play. Erik Stevenson was able to make use of the turnover at the offensive end, hitting two free throws to get his personal scoring to double digits. 10 of the Mountaineers’ 15 points belonged to Stevenson, with 11:30 to play in the first.
Kedrian Johnson got involved in the scoring with a three for his first points of the night to increase the lead to six, but Texas Tech hit one on the following possession to shorten WVU’s lead.
With just under ten to go, the Red Raiders claimed a one point lead.
Upon being subbed into the game for the first time, Seth Wilson didn’t take long to contribute, hitting a three for his first shot of the night (West Virginia’s fifth three of the half) to reclaim the lead.
The game remained close to close out the half, but the Mountaineers were the ones on top going into the break, up 35-34.
After just under five minutes of play in the second, Joe Toussaint hit a big three in transition to take a two point lead in a game that remained tight through the first few minutes of the final half.
After getting behind again, Stevenson hit another three with 12 minutes to go to tie the game at 50. Texas Tech responded with a three of their own, but Stevenson came back again, converting an and-one to tie the game once more. He then hit another three, followed by another, to take a six point lead. These four straight three point plays by Stevenson gave him West Virginia’s last 12.
Texas Tech quickly climbed back into the game, eventually taking a small lead. But, with five and a half to go, Stevenson hit another three for his 17th point of the half to tie the game.
With two remaining, the Mountaineers found themselves down by three. They came up with a big defensive stop, forcing a shot clock violation to get the ball back with 1:30 to play. Jimmy Bell made one free throw to make it a two point game. Then, on defense, Kedrian Johnson poked out the ball to regain possession with 59 seconds on the clock.
Erik Stevenson was unable to hit an open three and then fouled, giving Texas Tech two free throws to increase their lead to four with 35 seconds left.
Texas Tech closed out the game to beat the Mountaineers 78-72.
West Virginia’s next chance will be on Monday, February 20th against Oklahoma State.
