No. 6 WVU blows lead, beats Hall in OT
December 26, 2009
NEWARK, N.J. (AP)—All No. 6 West Virginia had to do to remain undefeated waswithstand a miraculous close to regulation by Seton Hall and another big scoringgame by Jeremy Hazell.
The Mountaineers blew a 10-point lead with less than a minute to play inregulation Saturday, then managed to win 90-84 in the Big East opener for bothteams despite a career-high 41 points by Hazell.
“It’s a huge concern,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of losing thelate lead. “Our two guys missed the front ends of 1-and-1. If we make those,then it really doesn’t matter.”
At least the Mountaineers (10-0), one of six remaining unbeatens in DivisionI, were able to overcome their missed free throws.
Seton Hall (9-2) couldn’t, finishing 16 of 33 from the line, including going8 of 20 from there after halftime.
“The free throws were a disaster,” Pirates coach Bobby Gonzalez said.“You cannot miss 17 free throws when you play the No. 6 team in the country inyour building with a chance to win.”
Devin Ebanks had 22 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists for West Virginia,Da’Sean Butler had 21 points and six assists, and Kevin Jones added 19 pointsand 14 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
The three combined for all 13 of West Virginia’s points in the overtime.
Butler hit a 3-pointer 34 seconds into the extra period to give WestVirginia the lead for good. The biggest plays of the overtime, though, belongedto Jones.
Ebanks missed a jumper as the shot clock wound down with 56 seconds to playand Jones grabbed the rebound. With 32 seconds left, Jones hit a 3 to give WestVirginia an 87-80 lead and the Pirates didn’t get closer than six points therest of the way.
“We’re leading and we’re going to run clock,” Huggins said. “KJ reboundsit and he’s smart enough to kick it out and run some more clock and then he hitsa huge 3 for us. We were first lucky to get the rebound and smart enough that hedidn’t try to score.”
Ebanks was the only player on either team to play all 45 minutes and the6-foot-9 sophomore spent almost the whole game running the point and he didn’tturn the ball over once.
“He’s starting to come around and show that he can become one of the bestplayers in the best conference in the history of college basketball,” Hugginssaid. “I’m amazed he didn’t turn it over.”
Hazell, the Big East’s third-leading scorer at 20.0 points per game, hadscored 35 points twice before in his career. The junior guard finished 14 of 33from the field, including 4 of 19 from 3-point range.
“I’m a shooter and shooter’s shoot,” said Hazell, who entered the gamehitting 31.6 percent from 3-point range. “I thought they were all going in notjust the two at the end of regulation.”
Butler’s three-point play with 57 seconds left in regulation gave theMountaineers a 75-65 lead. Hazell hit a 3 to cap a 9-0 run that brought SetonHall within 75-74 with 15 seconds left. Butler made two free throws for athree-point lead with 12.9 seconds left. Hazell hit a 3 with 6.9 seconds left totie it and Ebanks missed a chance to win it when his 3-point attempt bounced offthe rim at the buzzer.
“I told them that the game was not over, that we were still playing towin,” Gonzalez said of the Pirates’ last timeout before the run to closeregulation. “We were not ready to pack it in. Our team doesn’t come back if wedon’t show some ticker. Our quickness gave us a chance to win.”
The last time a Seton Hall player scored as many points as Hazell did wasFeb. 17, 1993, when Terry Dehere had 41 against St. John’s.
Huggins has seen these kind of games before from Hazell.
“Jeremy Hazell just licks his chops when he sees West Virginia. He’s had29, 30 and now 41 the last three times he played us,” Huggins said. “And Ithought we did a pretty good job defending him and he still got 41. He makesshots and that’s why he takes them. I don’t know if there’s anyone in our leaguethat can take shots as quick as he does. No one else is making those shots inour league, no way. If you watch tape of them, he might be missing and then allof a sudden, he goes crazy.”
The Mountaineers have won 26 consecutive games when they score 70 points.
“I’m aware of the stat and I tell the kids that we need to score 70,”Huggins said. “But there will be times like today where we need to score more.But it still comes down to having to defend and rebound. Those are the two keycomponents of the game.”
West Virginia has won five straight games in the series, including a 92-66blowout last season.