Buzzer Bummer
January 26, 2008 09:41 PM | General
January 26, 2008
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jessie Sapp’s 3-point field goal with 6.2 seconds left lifted No. 9 Georgetown to a 58-57 victory over West Virginia Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's Alex Ruoff battles for inside position during Saturday night's Big East game at the Coliseum. Georgetown won 58-57.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“That’s a huge shot from him,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “I’m not sure what happened. I think we might have gone under the screen and he stopped behind it, I’m not sure. But if we do what we’re supposed to do it doesn’t matter.”
Georgetown (16-2, 6-1) erased a 10-point West Virginia second-half lead, holding the Mountaineers without a field goal during a four-minute stretch to get back into the game. The Mountaineers had a five-point lead with 2:33 left after a pair of Da’Sean Butler free throws, but the foul line once again cost West Virginia.
“It’s frustrating,” said Huggins. “You hate to lose the way we lost. You hate to lose when we should have won.”
WVU was only 12 of 23 from the foul line and the key miss came with 31 seconds left when Darris Nichols couldn’t get the second of two to go in, giving Georgetown an opportunity trailing by two, 57-55.
Roy Hibbert grabbed Nichols’ miss and Georgetown Coach John Thompson III opted to play on and not call timeout. Sapp’s 3 was his second of the game and only one of four Georgetown made for the night, hitting 4 of 17.
Following a West Virginia timeout, West Virginia had a chance to win the game when Da’Sean Butler's baseline driving shot attempt was blocked from behind by Patrick Ewing, Jr. as the clock expired.
“It came down to that play because once again we didn’t make free throws,” Huggins said. “That’s why they call them free. If we make free throws we stretch it out and it doesn’t come down to that.”
Sapp finished with 15 points while Hibbert had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgetown made up for some cold outside shooting by making 12 of 15 from the free throw line. The Hoyas had a 36-26 edge on the glass.
Georgetown led 25-24 at halftime after Jamie Smalligan’s 3-point basket was waved off after the two teams left the court because replay showed the light went off with the basketball still in Smalligan’s hand.
Nichols scored a game-high 16 points for West Virginia, now 15-5, 4-3. Alex Ruoff had 13 and Butler scored 12.
The Mountaineers were 18 of 46 from the floor for 39.1 percent; half of WVU’s field goals (nine) came from 3-point distance.
“Where we could have really put some distance … Darris misses a look and Alex has a wide open look at the top of the key and those two guys usually make those shots and for whatever reason those two shots don’t go down,” Huggins said.
It was just the fourth time in the last 43 games West Virginia has lost at the Coliseum since 2005, the other three losses coming against LSU, Connecticut and Pitt.
“We come out in the second half and we gave them all of those back cuts and that’s how they stayed in the game,” said Huggins.
West Virginia wraps up the conference home-stand with a Wednesday night game against Cincinnati at 7 pm.
“It’s was a great college basketball environment and we really do appreciate their support,” Huggins said. “We’re going to need them (on Wednesday) because Cincinnati is playing pretty well.”
