by John Antonik
West Virginia’s second-half comeback ran out of gas in overtime. The Wildcats outscored the Mountaineers 15-11 in the extra session to claim a 94-90 victory and avoid an epic second half collapse tonight at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.
“It’s very disappointing to come in here and be that close and to come one bounce away or one call away …,” West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said.
Leading by 25 points with 13:04 remaining, the Wildcats went ice cold and the Mountaineers scored 33 of 41 points over the next 11 minutes to tie the game at 74 on Quinn Slazinski’s baseline jumper with 2:54 showing on the clock.
A missed Tylor Perry jumper opened the door for Kerr Kriisa to bang a 3 and give West Virginia its first lead, 77-74, since RaeQuan Battle scored the game’s opening basket. Two Kriisa free throws pushed the lead to four, 79-75, with 1:02 left, and the Mountaineers had an opportunity to make it a four-point lead again with 24 seconds left when Jesse Edwards was fouled trying to follow Slazinski’s missed 3.
But Edwards missed both free throws and Kriisa fouled Perry at the other end where he made both with 15 seconds to go.
Eilert elected to play on instead of calling timeout and Kriisa’s 3 to win the game was off the mark as the horn sounded.
In overtime, Edwards made the first free throw to give West Virginia a brief one-point lead, but Perry quickly unknotted it with a 3 and then Edwards’ night was finished when he fouled David N’guessan after missing a layup.
Kriisa missed his next two 3s, helping K-State build its lead to six, 87-81, with 1:59 remaining. Battle snapped the field goal drought with a 3, and then made another one to get the margin back to one with 35 seconds left.
Perry hit two free throws at the other end to put K-State ahead by three, and the Wildcats opted to foul and put the Mountaineers on the free throw line to avoid a game-tying 3. Kriisa made both, but Perry was fouled once again four seconds later and he made two more free throws.
WVU had a chance to tie it with five seconds remaining, but Battle was off target with his 3 and Slazinski couldn’t come up with the offensive rebound when replay review showed that the ball went out of bounds off him.
A Cam Carter free throw one second later iced the game for Kansas State, which is now 7-0 in overtime games this year and 12-0 in two seasons under coach Jerome Tang.
“We had so many looks close to the rim that we left on the table and it’s really going to hurt when we go back and look at it,” Eilert said.
