West Virginia trips up as No. 3 Gonzaga in overtime, 86-78

West Virginia erased a five-point deficit with 20 seconds left, forcing overtime against No. 3 Gonzaga, never trailing in the extra session to claim a marquee early-season victory, 86-78, in a Battle 4 Atlantis opening-round game from Paradise Island, Bahamas.

“Our guys did a great job tonight,” first-year West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way we wanted at Pitt in our first road game. We also told the team that it is part of maturing as a team. You need to make sure you learn from it and the next time it comes up, you need to fix it. Tonight you could feel a different mindset in the squeeze. There was no panic. They were very complex. We had great senior leadership from our guys, continued to stay confident and focused, and very matter-of-fact in what we needed to do to come out on top.”

After the Bulldogs’ Ryan Nembhard made two free throws with 25 seconds left in regulation for a 71-66 lead, the Mountaineers’ hit a front-court Tucker DeVries three-pointer to pull within a pair. WVU (4-1) then applied full-court pressure that generated a Nolan Hickman turnover and led to DeVries being fouled on his way to the basket. The senior made both free throws to tie the game at 71, and the Mountaineers came up with the necessary ensuing stop to force overtime when Khalif Battle turned it over with time.

On the final possession, Nembhard was off the field as he was unable to re-enter the contest without anything going off the clock since being taken out.

“We got some decent looks and I was able to get it done. The guys in front of the press did a great job of speeding them up,” Tucker DeVries said. “They were in a little bit of a rush to get over half court and a little loose, they happened to steal and make a play. Fortunately, I was able to make two free throws and keep playing.”

West Virginia jumped ahead on the opening possession of the extra session when Amani Hansberry found Javon Small for an uncontested layup. While Gonzaga tied it on a Dusty Stromer fast break, the Mountaineers went ahead for good on two Toby Okani free throws after the 3-minute mark. WVU went on to make 9-of-10 free throw attempts in overtime, including two from Hansberry for a 77-73 lead.

Small’s layup with 1:47 left left Gonzaga (5-1) with a 79-75 deficit, and a steal and dunk by Sencire Harris for an 84-76 lead with under 30 seconds to play all but wrapped up the scoring.

WVU struggled to shoot throughout the first half and went into halftime with a 39-31 deficit after making 9-of-30 shots. Outside of Hansberry, who accounted for 10 of the Mountaineers’ first 12 points, West Virginia shot 5 for 21.

After the deficit grew to 43-33 — its largest all game — the Mountaineers responded with 12 unanswered points, a stretch highlighted by Small’s seven points, including his go-ahead basket with 14:51 left for a 45-43 lead .

Neither team led by more than five the rest of regulation, with Hickman’s three at 7:56 marking the start of an 8-0 Gonzaga spurt that turned a five-point deficit into a 61-58 advantage.

That run ended on a pair of Ben Gregg free throws, and 19 seconds later, Small’s jumper brought West Virginia within one. The Bulldogs’ Braden Huff went on to score on consecutive possessions and the Bulldogs led 67-64 at the time, but the Mountaineers battled back, starting with two short free throws with 1:07 left.

Still, the deficit was five before DeVries’ triple, and the crucial Bulldog turnover led to it being erased.

“As we’ve gotten more comfortable together, we have more confidence in each other. Today was a step in the right direction,” Tucker DeVries said. “We had a lot of things to improve on from that Pitt game, and it was the best thing for us going forward because we really dug in and improved on what we needed to improve on. It leaned more offensively towards each other and defensively, and the progress showed a lot tonight.”

Gonzaga was held to 40 percent shooting, including 2 of 10 in overtime.

“Not giving them second chance opportunities, stopping them in transition and keeping the ball in front of us, trying to be in those gaps, we did pretty well,” Small said.

The Bulldogs finished with just nine fast break points and WVU held a 42-36 rebounding edge, helping the Mountaineers overcome the Bulldogs’ 30-2 advantage in bench scoring.

“Our whole game plan was not to make this a transition game,” coach DeVries said. “As much as we like to run, this is a game we felt they were better at than us and we needed a different strategy if we were going to come out on top. Our guys did a great job both halves trying to control the tempo and play at the pace we want them to play.”

Small finished with 31 points and seven rebounds.

“I know I played pretty well and did what the team needed me to do,” Small said. “All-around I had a pretty good match, but the win is more important.”

Hansberry scored 19 points to go with eight rebounds, and DeVries added 16 points, six boards and four assists. Okani scored 10 and Harris added eight with six rebounds.

Small, DeVries and Harris all logged 42 minutes.

Huff made 9-of-14 shots and scored 19 points to pace the Bulldogs. Battle scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. Hickman added 13 points.

Nembhard was 1 for 10 with seven points, but had 12 assists and one turnover.

The Mountaineers will battle Louisville (4-1) Thursday at noon on ESPN for a spot in the Battle 4 Atlantic title game. The Cardinals handled Indiana 89-61 in the first game on Wednesday.

“It’s not a statement or anything. Our focus has been on trying to be the best version of ourselves,” coach DeVries said. “We don’t listen to a lot from the outside. We know what goes on in practice every day and the progress we need to make. by no means have we arrived or anything. We had a great win, great 45 minutes. But we still have plenty of room to grow into, and we look forward to continuing to do so.”