West Leads Amazing Comeback
January 05, 2005 12:38 PM | General
January 5, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 8, 1958) – Jerry West scored 17 of West Virginia’s final 23 points to lead the No. 1-rated Mountaineers to an exciting 76-75 come-from-behind victory over Villanova at the Palestra.
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| Jerry West scored 17 of West Virginia's final 23 points to defeat Villanova 76-75 in 1958. (WVU Sports Communications) |
West, West Virginia’s sophomore sensation, finished the game making 13 of 25 field goal attempts and 11 of 15 free throws for a season-high 37 points. The 6-foot-3 forward also pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds.
West Virginia, recently coming off three straight victories against nationally ranked Richmond in overtime and then Kentucky and North Carolina in the KIT Classic, found the going tough against the Wildcats.
Villanova led West Virginia 40-30 at halftime and had the Mountaineers on the ropes with 8:08 left in the game leading by 14, 65-51. But West got hot and his teammates kept feeding him.
In the game’s final 40 seconds West hit two baskets and then found Lloyd Sharrar for the go-ahead bucket with two seconds left to give West Virginia its 11th victory to start the season. It was just West Virginia’s second lead of the game having led, 4-0 40 seconds into the contest.
West’s fantastic play spoiled an excellent all-around effort by Alex Severance’s Wildcat team, which had six double figurer scorers. Six-foot-one guard Joe Ryan led Villanova with 18 points and seven assists.
John Scott contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, John Kelly had 11 points and 16 rebounds while Matthew Brennan and Ken Harrison scored 10 points each.
Guard Don Vincent chipped in 13 and Sharrar scored 11 and grabbed 12 rebounds for West Virginia, which lifted its record to 11-0 for the first time in school history.
Villanova (4-3)lost three regulars – Kelly, Matt Brennan and John Scott – in the game’s remaining seconds. Vincent was disqualified due to fouls for West Virginia.
Sharrar, saddled with foul trouble in the first half, rejoined the team in the second half and didn’t commit a personal foul the rest of the game.
Two free throws by Vincent cut Villanova’s lead to 65-53 to begin West Virginia’s amazing comeback. Another pair of free throws and a Ronnie Retton steal and layup made Villanova’s lead 65-57.
Joe Ryan sank two foul shots – Villanova’s lone points during a five-minute stretch – to stop West Virginia’s run.
But the Mountaineers answered with a Sharrar hook shot and then a West steal and layup to trim Villanova’s lead to two, 67-65, with 3:45 to go.
George Emma responded with a 15-footer for the Wildcats, but West drove to the basket for a layup and was fouled by Emma on the play. The sophomore coolly sank his free throw to put the Mountaineers to within one, 71-70, with 1:37 remaining.
Ken Harrison broke free under the basket for a layup to make it 73-70, Villanova. Missed free throws by Retton for West Virginia and Emma for Villanova kept the score the same until West drove in for another layup with 40 seconds left.
Emma’s two free throws with 30 seconds left were matched by another driving layup by West six seconds later. Trailing by one, West Virginia forced Villanova into a five-second violation under its own basket when the Wildcats were unable to in-bound the basketball.
Retton passed the ball into West, who quickly dumped it inside to Sharrar. The 6-foot-10 center then flipped the ball up into the basket from five feet away right before the final buzzer.
It was one of just 27 of 74 field goal attempts made by the Mountaineers for the game.
Villanova made 26 of 65 shot attempts for 40 percent and pounded the Mountaineers on the backboards, 53-46.
West Virginia 76, Villanova 75
West Virginia (11-0)
West 13-25 11-15 37, Smith 3-8 0-1 6, Sharrar 5-10 1-2 11, Vincent 3-10 7-8 13, Gardner 2-11 1-1 5, Akers 0-2 0-2 0, Clousson 0-2 0-1 0, Retton 1-5 2-4 4, Bolyard 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-74 22-34 76.
Villanova (4-3)
Ryan 8-14 2-4 18, Scott 6-13 2-2 14, Kelly 2-8 7-11 11, M. Brennan 4-9 2-3 10, T. Brennan 2-6 2-5 6, Harrison 3-11 4-4 10, Emma 1-3 4-6 6, Raveling 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-65 23-35 75.
Halftime-Villanova 40, West Virginia 30. Fouled out- Vincent, Scott, Kelly, M. Brennan. Rebounds-Villanova 53 (Ryan 6, Scott 9, Kelly 16, M. Brennan 2, T. Brennan 13, Harrison 4, Emma 1, Raveling 2); West Virginia 46 (West 13, Smith 5, Sharrar 12, Vincent 4, Gardner 5, Akers 1, Clousson 5, Retton 1). Assists-Villanova 12 (Ryan 7, Scott 1, M. Brennan 1, T. Brennan 2, Harrison 1), West Virginia 15 (West 5, Smith 1, Vincent 1, Gardner 4, Akers 1, Retton 2, Bolyard 1). Total fouls-Villanova 25, West Virginia 22. Technicals- None.
Attendance – 8,000.
