Louisville Outlasts West Virginia in Overtime – West Virginia University Athletics

Louisville rallied from 11 points down in the first half to defeat West Virginia 79-70 in overtime in the semifinals of the Bad Boys Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis at Atlantis Resort Imperial Arena in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
 
It was West Virginia’s second straight overtime game after upsetting third-ranked Gonzaga yesterday afternoon.
 
After trailing 28-17 late in the first half, the Cardinals pulled even with 8:06 left on Chucky Hepburn’s 3. His basket was part of a 9-0 Louisville run that got the Cardinals’ lead to four, 54-50.
 
Javon Small stopped the run with a jumper in the paint, but Louisville responded with another 5-0 spurt, all five points coming from the free throw line, to build its lead to seven, 59-52, with 4:22 remaining.
 
West Virginia (4-2) rallied, however.
 
 Toby Okani got a short jumper to go down with 3:59 left, Amani Hansberry added a pair of free throws, Small hit another jumper and Okani’s close one gave WVU a 60-59 lead with two minutes left.
 
The lead went back Louisville on Terrence Edwards Jr.’s jumper and then back to West Virginia 16 seconds later on Small’s answer.
 
Hepburn’s free throw with 31 seconds left tied the game at 62, but his second was missed giving West Virginia an opportunity to win the game in regulation.
 
Unfortunately, the Mountaineers were unable to get off a shot before the shot clock expired and the game went into overtime.
 
In the extra session, the Cardinals took control of the game when Tucker DeVries picked up his fifth foul attempting to help on Hepburn’s drive to the basket. Hepburn converted the layup and added the free throw to give Louisville a 70-67 lead. The margin swelled to five on Kasean Pryor’s layup and then to seven after more Hepburn free throws.
 
The guard finished with a career-high 32 on 8 of 12 shooting, including 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Louisville made 24 of its 33 free throws compared to just 9 of 12 for West Virginia, which drops to 4-2 with the loss.
 
Small led the Mountaineers with 26 points on 10 of 19 shooting. He also had seven rebounds and seven assists one day after scoring 31 against Gonzaga.
 
Hansberry contributed 19 points and five rebounds, while Okani chipped in with 12.
 
West Virginia made 26 of its 59 field goal attempts for 44.1%, while Louisville connected on 24 of 57 for 42.1%.
 
Louisville had a 41 to 34 edge on the glass and outscored West Virginia 21 to 10 in second-chance points. The Cardinals’ other significant advantage was their bench scoring where they out-tallied the Mountaineers 16 to 3.
 
Reyne Smith scored 15 and Pryor finished with 13 for Louisville.
 
West Virginia will conclude play in the Bahamas tomorrow against the loser of today’s Arizona-Oklahoma matchup.