West Virginia opened their week in the Battle 4 Atlantis as heavy underdogs to No. 3 Gonzaga.
West Virginia completed a comeback in the closing seconds of the second half to force overtime and they would thrive there, ultimately outlasting Gonzaga, 86-78.
West Virginia scored five points in the final 19 seconds of regulation before they outscored Gonzaga 15-7 in the extra session to seal the win.
West Virginia and Gonzaga both got off to hot starts from beyond the arc. The scoring opened with WVU’s Amani Hansberry knocking down a triple, while Khalif Battle responded with a triple of his own. Four of the first five made shots between both teams were from distance, as Gonzaga led 9-8 early.
Trailing 12-8, WVU responded with two more buckets from Hansberry, the first being a layup and the second being a 3-pointer, as WVU took a 13-12 lead. Tucker DeVries checked in with his first points of the day, knocking down another 3-pointer for WVU as they led 16-15 with 13:13 to play in the first half.
The Mountaineers started 4-for-8 from three, but they could not sustain that. The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run as WVU missed their last six shots, and Gonzaga made them pay. DeVries had an easy transition dunk off a steal to end WVU’s field goal drought, and Javon Small made three free throws with 6:16 to play as WVU trailed 27-23.
West Virginia would keep things close despite struggling to get any offense going. Small made a big three-pointer for WVU as the shot clock expired to keep them within one possession before Battle began to take over for Gonzaga. He scored nine straight points as WVU made only two field goals in the final 9:11 of the first half. Gonzaga led 39-31 at halftime.
The second half seemed to be off to a rocky start as WVU turned the ball over twice in the first two minutes. They would make up for it in a hurry as DeVries found Toby Okani for an open dunk before Small had a steal and score and then made a three-pointer to cut Gonzaga’s lead to 43-40 with 16:17 to play and forced a timeout by the Bulldogs.
WVU would ultimately take the lead as Hansberry made a triple to tie the game before Small made a layup to put WVU in front, 45-43, their first lead since more than 12 minutes to play in the first half.
The Mountaineers would continue to sustain that lead as Small continued to pave the way for the Mountaineers. A three-pointer from Small put them in front by five before Gonzaga hit a three from Nolan Hickman to cut WVU's lead to two.
West Virginia had arguably their first bad possession of the half as they had a shot clock violation leading into the under-eight media timeout.
The Bulldogs retook the lead on a Braden Huff layup with just under six minutes to play as they went in front 59-58. On the ensuing possession, DeVries missed a three-pointer for WVU as the ball went out of bounds on the Mountaineers.
WVU would not have a made shot since the 8:08 mark of the second half but would turn to Small, who was able to make a jumper with 4:47 to play to cut the Gonzaga lead back to one.
Gregg made a pair of free throws for Gonzaga with 3:19 to play, and WVU struggled to get anything going on offense, but DeVries would be fouled with one second left on the shot clock as he would go to the line for three free throws. He would make two of three, giving WVU a 64-63 lead with 2:50 to play.
Gonzaga turned to Huff on back-to-back possessions as he made two floaters near the rim, which sandwiched a miss from Hansberry as WVU called a timeout, trailing 67-64 with 1:44 to play. Small would get fouled and headed to the free throw line, making both as WVU trailed by one.
Gonzaga went back to Huff, who scored another bucket as the Bulldogs went back in front by three. West Virginia had three looks at the basket, including a pair of three-pointers from Small, but he could not come through.
Ryan Nembhard made two free throws for the Bulldogs, while DeVries came down and knocked down a 3-pointer with 19.1 seconds to play to keep WVU down by two and alive.
DeVries would then get a steal and drive to the hoop, getting fouled with 5.9 seconds to play. DeVries made both free throws, tying the game at 71-71 as Gonzaga called a timeout to try and set up their play.
Battle would get the ball, but would turn it over as time expired, sending the game to overtime tied at 71-71.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
