WVU Falls in OT

WVU Falls in OT

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com November 26, 2005 BOX SCORE MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In the end, West Virginia couldn’t come up with an answer for LSU’s Darrell Mitchell. The senior guard made a 3-point basket to send the game into overtime, and then won it 71-68 with his fifth 3 of the game with 12 seconds left in overtime. Mitchell scored 26 points on 9 of 14 shooting and 6-foot-9-inch, 310-pound forward Glen Davis had his way in the paint scoring 23 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to help the Tigers improve to 3-0 on the season. “Mitchell hit the big shot at the end to send it to overtime,” said LSU coach John Brady. “If he was off-balanced, I hope he keeps shooting that way.” West Virginia trailed the Tigers by 15 at one point midway through the first half and was down 37-27 at halftime. In the second half, West Virginia’s Mike Gansey made three straight 3s during one stretch to pull the Mountaineers to within five of LSU, 51-46. Another 3 by Patrick Beilein with 8:46 remaining got West Virginia to within two, 51-49, and a 3 by Joe Herber with 4:37 left gave WVU a 57-56 lead. A Beilein lay up gave West Virginia a 62-59 lead with 56 seconds left. The Mountaineers appeared to be in good shape when Mitchell turned the basketball over with 46 seconds left. But J.D. Collins was called for a 10-second violation trying to advance the ball past mid court and Mitchell wound up tying the game with a 3 with 23 seconds left. “We only had seven turnovers but the ones we had were critical,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. The Mountaineers (2-3) could have won it in regulation, but Gansey’s follow up attempt of a Collins miss hung on the rim before rolling off. Gansey finished the game with 25 points and a team-best 7 rebounds. He made 9 of 14 field goal attempts including 7 of 11 from 3. Beilein came off the bench to add 15 of 5 of 13 shooting, while Herber added 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. “Gansey is a wonderful player,” said Brady. “This is a good basketball team and we’re fortunate to win here.” West Virginia’s leading scorer Kevin Pittsnogle, was held to just 8 points or 10 points below his season average. West Virginia was minus 22 (51-29) on the boards against the Tigers. “It goes to show that to go against these top-ranked teams, we have to rebound well offensively,” Beilein said. “They’re big and long but since they only have one guy under 6-7 it’s tough to get in there.” The loss was the third straight for the Mountaineers, having dropped games earlier this week to No. 2-ranked Texas and to No. 7-ranked Kentucky. “It’s been a long time since we’ve lost three in row,” Beilein said. “It’s hard to bounce back, but it’s my job to get these guys to do that.” West Virginia returns to the court on Saturday, Nov. 30, to take on St. Bonaventure in Rochester, N.Y. “It’s been a long week with travel and hopefully they guys will be able to get some rest this week and be ready for St. Bonaventure,” Beilein said.