Two OT Coliseum Classic
March 12, 2003 09:48 AM | General
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
January 31, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Feb. 20, 2001) – Chris Moss scored 29 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a thrilling, double-overtime, 107-100 win over Villanova at the WVU Coliseum.
 |
||
| Forward Chris Moss scored 29 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 107-100, two-overtime win over Villanova. (WVU Sports Communications) |
The game didn’t set a Coliseum standard for most combined points – West Virginia’s 132-82 ho-hummer against Alaska Fairbanks in 1994 owns that distinction – but this one goes down as one of the most memorable in the 30-plus year history of the facility.
“There’s magic in the building – Mountaineer magic,” said West Virginia coach Gale Catlett. “I’ve never been a part of a better basketball game.”
It was a Coliseum classic in every respect. A total of 57 points were scored by both teams after regulation in this nationally televised clash. The game took more than three hours to finish.
Both Catlett and Villanova coach Steve Lappas logged extensive mileage on the sidelines. Villanova’s bundle of energy was roaming the court like a madman and once ran all the way to the three-point line to signal a timeout. On two occasions the referees went to the television monitors to correct calls.
Lappas was asked about his performance after the game. “I was coaching, not yelling at the referees. I was coaching my team,” he said.
West Virginia trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half after a Gary Buchanan layup and didn’t start making a dent in the Wildcat lead until a Josh Yeager jump shot with 11:52 left got the deficit under 10 at 56-48.
Yeager says the WVU student section had a lot to do with the comeback, “It was the atmosphere,” he said. “It was the crowd. It was a great atmosphere for college basketball.”
Moss mentioned that there were other motivating factors as well.
“I don’t know what triggered the intensity, maybe it was Coach cussing us out,” he said.
“Emotionally, we just weren’t with it in the first half with missed free throws and bad passes,” said Catlett. “But in the second half, we showed great presence and just weren’t going to be denied.
“I think our press is what changed the game by disrupting their offensive flow.”
Villanova answered West Virginia’s run with a flurry of its own to boost the margin back to nine points after a Ricky Wright layup with 5:11 left made the score 66-57. But West Virginia wouldn’t quit.
Back-to-back layups by Moss and Calvin Bowman got the Mountainers to within five points at 66-61, and a Moss layup with 47.4 seconds left made the score 73-72, Villanova.
After a Wildcat timeout, Michael Bradley worked his way free inside for a layup to give Villanova a three-point lead with 39.9 seconds left.
Yeager tied it with a fall-away three-pointer from the corner with 30.6 seconds left. Just nine days earlier, it was Yeager’s three-point miss in the final 10 seconds that enabled Notre Dame to pull out a 69-66 win at the Coliseum.
“I wanted to redeem myself for the Notre Dame game when no one was on me,” he said.
“That was like the biggest shot of the whole game when Josh hit that three,” said Bowman.
Both teams had chances to win it in regulation but couldn’t convert.
In the first overtime West Virginia jumped out to a four-point lead after a pair of free throws by Tim Lyles, but Villanova closed the gap on a slam by Wright and a pair of free throws by Derrick Snowden.
The two teams played to an 88-all tie after the first overtime.
West Virginia took control from the start of the second overtime and built a seven-point lead on baskets by Lionel Armstead and Bowman, and a three-point play from Moss.
Villanova cut West Virginia’s lead to four twice at 98-94 and 100-96 before the Mountaineers finally pulled away.
“I have to give West Virginia credit, they played well,” said Lappas. “It was a great game but we needed to come up with some stops and we didn’t.”
Neither team shot the ball particularly well for a game in which both teams scored in the 100s. Villanova shot 48.7 percent but cooled off considerably after shooting 51.9 percent in the first half.
West Virginia made just 34 of 76 field goal attempts for 44.7 percent, but made up the difference at the free throw line where the Mountaineers made 34 of 51 free throws.
By comparison, Villanova made just 17 of 27 free throws.
Three Villanova players fouled out of the game in Wright, Reggie Bryant and Brooks Sales.
No West Virginia players were disqualified.
“It was a hard-fought game. I think we ran out of gas at the end and I think the fouls hurt us, “said Lappas.
In addition to Moss’ career-high 29 points, junior Lionel Armstead contributed 24, Calvin Bowman scored 22, Lyles had 17 and Yeager scored 10.
“When you play a game for 50 minutes and only have 11 turnovers and 107 points, it’s miraculous,” said Catlett.
Bradley led Villanova with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Wright also scored 22 and Snowden and Buchanan added 18 points each.
Villanova led at halftime 40-35.
West Virginia 107, Villanova 100
Villanova (15-10)
Matthews 2-5 0-1 4, Wright 9-14 4-7 22, Bradley 10-15 2-4 22, Snowden 4-7 6-8 18, Buchanan 7-18 0-1 18, Bryant 3-10 2-2 9, Sales 2-2 3-4 7, Bloch 0-5 0-0 0, Holley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-76 17-27 100.
West Virginia (16-8
Yeager 4-8 0-0 10, Bowman 9-14 4-8 22, Moss 11-17 7-10 29, Lyles 2-12 13-19 17, Armstead 6-15 9-10 24, Berry 0-4 0-0 0, Oliver 2-5 0-2 4, Hewitt 0-1 1-2 1, Totals 34-76 34-51 107.
Halftime- Villanova 40-35. Fouled out – Wright, Snowden, Bryant, Sales (Villanova) Rebounds – Villanova 47 (Bradley 18), West Virginia 48 (Moss 16). Assists- Villanova 21 (Bradley 6), West Virginia (Lyles 9) Three-Point FGs – Villanova 9-32 (Bradley 0-1, Snowden 4-6, Buchanan 4-14, Bryant 1-6, Bloch 0-5); West Virginia 5-19 (Yeager 2-6, Lyles 0-3, Armstead 3-7, Berry 0-3). Total fouls- Villanova 33, West Virginia 21. Technicals- None.
Attendance – 6,861
