West Virginia Takes One to the Bank

BOISE, Idaho —  It was a masterful display of basketball economics. West Virginia hoarded each one of its possessions and forced the Cincinnati Bearcats to waste theirs.

And down by two points with a precious second left, West Virginia’s frugality paid off when guard Jarrod West banked a 22-foot basket for three points to give the Mountaineers a 75-74 victory Saturday in the second round of the NCAA West Regional.

West, whose shot was deflected by Ruben Patterson, didn’t mean to bank it.

“No, I didn’t call my shot,” West said. “I saw Patterson coming out toward me and I knew I had to put good arch on it. I threw it up hard and I could see it was on line, but I didn’t intend to bank it. The ball just went in for us.”

The 12,166 at Boise State Pavilion roared with approval when West’s shot fell. The 10th-seeded Mountaineers (24-8) had become the crowd favorite since it was reported in a local paper that members of the second-seeded Bearcats and Coach Bob Huggins had complained about being shipped to Boise.

The crowd embraced West and forward Damian Owens like hometown heroes, giving them a standing ovation when they came out of the locker room to give television interviews.

West Virginia advances to the round of 16 for the first time since 1963 and plays Utah (27-3) at the Pond of Anaheim on Thursday.

West had 15 points, four assists and three steals and Owens had 14 points. Five players scored in double digits for West Virginia.

D’Juan Baker and Patterson scored 25 apiece for Cincinnati.

West said his brother, Heath, was getting married Saturday and that he was disappointed about being unable to be his best man.

Well, not too disappointed. “This is the NCAA, baby,” West said.

Before West’s shot, Cincinnati looked as if it would repeat Thursday’s comeback victory over Northern Arizona. In that game, Baker made a three-point shot with four seconds to play to give the Bearcats a 65-62 victory.

Trailing 72-68 with 1:20 left, Cincinnati worked the ball to Baker, who made one of his five three-point shots. After West missed a three-point shot, Baker made another three-point basket with seven seconds left to give the Bearcats a 74-72 lead and what appeared to be the victory.

Asked if he thought that his shot had won the game, Baker said: “You don’t ever have the game won when there’s seconds left on the clock.”

Other than West’s shot, the Mountaineers’ press--run skillfully by their five senior starters--was the difference. The Bearcats (27-6) committed 22 turnovers, including four of six possessions that helped give West Virginia a 62-59 lead with five minutes to play.

“We changed our press during the game,” West Virginia Coach Gale Catlett said. “You couldn’t do that with a young club.”

West Virginia was particularly efficient down the stretch, scoring seven times in its last eight possessions.

Though Cincinnati shot slightly better than West Virginia, 48.3% to 47.6%, it had fewer chances to score because of turnovers.

In the first half, West Virginia went on a 8-0 run to take a 24-13 lead, piling up points after steals.

Cincinnati countered by getting the ball into Patterson’s hands. He scored 13 points in the first half--getting four baskets on dunks--to keep the Bearcats within striking distance.

In the second half, however, Cincinnati struggled just to push the ball upcourt against the West Virginia press.

On Friday, Catlett said the Mountaineers would press the same way they have all season. “I’ll let you [reporters] in on a secret,” he said. “You can go tell the [Cincinnati] coaching staff, ‘West Virginia is going to press.’ ”

It appears that nobody let Cincinnati in on it.