Buzzer Beater
December 17, 2003 10:31 PM | General
December 17, 2003
MULTIMEDIA:
HERBER VIDEO 1 | HERBER VIDEO 2 | BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Joe Herber made a half-court three-point shot at the buzzer to lift West Virginia to a 77-74 victory over IUPUI Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum. It was estimated that Herber’s shot went in from about 40 feet from the basket.
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| Joe Herber's half-court shot at the buzzer lifted West Virginia to a 77-74 win over IUPUI. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“I had my mind set on overtime,” said Herber, who also hit the go-ahead basket in last year’s upset win over Florida in Charleston. “Usually it never happens but today it happened and I got extremely lucky I guess.”
Herber, who finished with 6 points on two threes, says that is the first time he’s ever made a shot like that to win a game at any level of basketball. “I’ve had two or three game-winners back in Germany but not from mid-court,” he said. “It’s just lucky.”
West Virginia’s John Beilein admits that’s the first time his team has ever won a game like that at any level of basketball he’s coached.
“I’ve never won the game from half-court. If you count high school I’ve probably coached over 800 games and I never won like that,” said Beilein. “I’ve probably been beaten five times like this.”
With 13 minutes to go in the second half and West Virginia leading by 12 points, it didn’t appear the game was going to end up the way it did.
West Virginia kept the margin at 10 as late as 7:40 after a three-point basket by Kevin Pittsnogle, but IUPUI answered with a 9-2 run to cut West Virginia’s lead to three with 4:16 left on a three-point basket by Akeem Clark.
West Virginia built the lead back to seven on a beautiful three-point play by Patrick Beilein at the 1:55 mark and had a chance to make it a three possession game with 1:27 left, but Drew Schifino left his driving layup short of the rim after a mid-court steal.
The Jaguars responded with a layup by Matt Crenshaw to trim their deficit to five, 67-62. At that point, IUPUI coach Ron Hunter chose to foul to get the basketball back.
A pair of free throws by Tyler Relph gave the Mountaineers a seven-point cushion once again with 1:08 left, but Brandon Cole nailed another three from the corner to cut it to four.
One of two from D’or Fischer and four straight free throws from Beilein helped give West Virginia a 74-69 lead with 27 seconds left.
But Odell Bradley was able to make a close basket inside on D’or Fischer with eight seconds left and was fouled on the play. Trailing by three, 74-71, Bradley’s free throw went high off the back of the rim and West Virginia freshman Jerrah Young tracked the basketball down in the corner.
Instead of either hanging onto the ball or throwing it the length of the court, Young lobbed the ball back toward the top of the key where Crenshaw was able to intercept it. Crenshaw flipped the ball to the wing where Bradley was able to hit the three with 1.9 seconds left on the clock.
“Jerrah’s just got to eat the ball at that point,” said Beilein. “But he’s young and he’s just playing and he ended up throwing it to them.”
West Virginia was out-rebounded for the 15th straight game dating back to last year, but the Mountaineers were able to close the gap to only four, 40-36, Wednesday night.
Fischer had his best all-around game for WVU, scoring 17 points on 8 of 10 shooting while collecting 11 rebounds and 7 blocks.
“I wanted the ball more but sometimes they didn’t see me,” said Fischer. “Hey, that happens.”
Schifino overcame a one-point first half to score 11 and grab 10 rebounds; Fischer’s and Schifino’s double-doubles are the first two this year for West Virginia and just the third under Beilein. Schifino had West Virginia’s only double-double last year.
“Our entire scheme was to stop Schifino,” said IUPUI coach Ron Hunter. “We contained him and gave ourselves a chance.”
Kevin Pittsnogle added 11 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.
All 10 of Beilein’s points came in the final 3:13; he hit 2 of 5 field goals and was 5 of 5 from the free throw line.
J.D. Collins matched his career high with 9 points, all in the first half.
“If I would have made my two free throws the game would have been over,” said Collins of missing the front end of a one-and-one with 57 seconds left. “I missed; they got a couple of drives and made their shots. Jerrah is a freshman, he made a freshman mistake, and they hit the three. That’s the way momentum works. I knew it was going in before he shot it and I was thinking overtime. But Joe made the shot with the long bomb.”
Bradley was IUPUI’s top scorer with 27 points. He hit 9 of 20 field goals including 2 of 3 from three-point range. Clark contributed 19, Brandon Cole scored 14 and Crenshaw added 12 for the Jaguars, now 4-3.
IUPUI shot 41.3 percent from the floor, but was a sizzling 13 of 25 from three-point range for 52 percent.
“They were hitting everything, it was just ridiculous,” said Fischer.
West Virginia was also 50 percent from behind the three-point arc, making 10 of 20.
“Maybe I’m wrong, but we haven’t played a team at home this year that has been soft,” said Beilein. “I didn’t mean to get IUPUI and say, ‘Hey they’re great, let’s get them in here, pay ‘em, and hopefully it will be a great game.’ I didn’t do that but that is the way it’s turning out.”
The Mountaineers return to action Saturday night against Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic in Miami. That game will tip off at 8:30 pm and will air locally on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.
“I compare this team a lot to Vanderbilt,” said Hunter. “They are a very solid team. When they take one big guy out they put another one in.”
