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March 08, 2003 05:34 PM | General
March 8, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The numbers certainly don’t tell the story today.
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| Drew Schifino looks for an opening inside in the first half of West Virginia's 71-67 victory over Virginia Tech. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
West Virginia was out-rebounded 50-28, committed 21 personal fouls and shot 43.1 percent from the floor: and won.
Drew Schifino shook off a bad first half by scoring 11 of West Virginia’s final 13 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 71-67 come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech Saturday.
“Today was a game that was typical of some of the close games we have had this year,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “I think we hit some key buckets when we needed to and our defense was outstanding in the last three-four minutes.”
The win gives the Mountaineers a spot in the Big East tournament that begins next Wednesday afternoon. West Virginia’s likely opponent is Providence, which upset Seton Hall today and can move into the No. 3 seed if Pitt beats an undermanned Villanova team Sunday.
Villanova announced the suspension of 12 players, including starters Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright for allegedly making unauthorized telephone calls, ESPN.com reported today.
That means the Wildcats will face Pittsburgh with just seven players on Sunday and a likely loss drops them into a tie with Providence, which claims the tiebreaker.
“Five Big East wins isn’t our goal – certainly playing .500 basketball isn’t our goal,” said Beilein of his team’s 14-14, 5-11 record. “We are happy that we get to continue the season on our terms; we don’t have to wait for the Syracuse-Rutgers decision tomorrow.”
“I didn’t want to wait around for Rutgers to play Syracuse,” added Schifino. “We got it over and now we’re looking forward to playing against Providence I guess in the first round on Wednesday.”
After jumping out to an early 11-1 lead, West Virginia went cold from three-point distance against Virginia Tech’s 2-3 zone. The Mountaineers finished the first half shooting just 35.5 percent, mostly threes. Of WVU’s 31 first-half shot attempts, 20 were from behind the arc.
Consequently, Virginia Tech got itself back into the game and led at the break, 34-33.
With the scored tied at 40, the Hokies went on a 7-0 run to push their lead out to seven. A layup by Terry Taylor, a three from Carlos Dixon and another jumper by Taylor keyed the run.
The Mountaineers answered with an 8-0 spurt highlighted by a pair of threes by Patrick Beilein and Joe Herber.
Once again, Virginia Tech took control of the game with a 15-4 run to assume its largest lead of the contest at 63-52 with 7:16 remaining.
At this point, Schifino, in the midst of a 2 of 10 shooting day and riding the bench, took over the game. He hit the first of two free throws, and after a layup by Tyrone Sally and a three by Kevin Pittsnogle, began his scoring string with a jumper to close the Tech lead to four, 64-60.
Another free throw and a three-pointer by Schifino with 3:16 remaining tied the game at 64.
Virginia Tech, which was a horrendous 17 of 34 from the free throw line, also couldn’t find the basket down the stretch missing 13 straight shots including three easy layups.
“I am pleased with the effort but we just didn’t shoot free throws well,” said Virginia Tech coach Ricky Stokes. “Maybe we didn’t play hard enough in the last five to six minutes.”
The Hokies finally put one through the hoop with eight seconds remaining when Bryant Matthews threw down a dunk, but the damage was done.
Schifino made both free throws with seven seconds left to give West Virginia a four-point lead and a two-possession game.
“With four minutes left we had to dig deep and give it all we had and that’s what we did,” said Schifino.
Schifino finished the game with a team-high 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting. Pittsnogle contributed 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting, while Herber added 10 points and 3 assists.
Matthews led Virginia Tech with 24 points. Taylor, a 290-pound senior forward, contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds. Carlos Dixon came off the bench to score 11.
Virginia Tech, 11-18, 4-12, needed a victory to keep its hopes alive for a Big East tournament spot. Now the Hokies have failed to make the conference tournament in each of the three seasons the league opted to send only 12 teams to New York.
West Virginia returns to Madison Square Garden after missing the conference tournament last year.
“We don’t have the best coach or players all the time, but we have the best attitude and we aren’t just going to the tournament to play -- we’re going there to try and win,” said Beilein.
“I’m happy,” said Schifino. “No one thought we could get to the Big East tournament coming from a 1-15 team, but I’m proud of the coaching staff for getting us back to the Big East tournament.”
The Mountaineers still have a shot of making the NIT with a win or two in the conference tournament.
Last year, West Virginia finished its worst season in school history with an 8-20 record.
