Sixth-ranked West Virginia stole a basketball game at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, against Texas Tech this afternoon.

 

And West Virginia’s chief thief was Tarik Phillip.

 

The junior guard came up with two critical steals and baskets late in the game to power the Mountaineers to an 80-76 come-from-behind victory over the fired-up Red Raiders.

 

Phillip’s biggest steal happened with 30 seconds left in the game when Aaron Ross was driving in for a layup to put Texas Tech back in the lead. Phillip was able to strip the ball out of Ross’ hands and turn Ross’ turnover into a twisting layup at the other end for a traditional three-point play when he was fouled by Zach Smith.

 

That made the score, 78-76, West Virginia with 24 seconds remaining.

 

Following a Texas Tech timeout, Toddrick Gotcher got a good look at a three to put Texas Tech back into the lead, he missed, and Philip eventually managed to come up with the basketball at midcourt where he drove in for a dunk to punctuate an unlikely victory for West Virginia, now 16-3, 5-2.

 

With 2:26 remaining in the game that did not seem likely.

 

The Red Raiders were celebrating Gray’s short jumper in the lane to put them ahead by five, 72-67, forcing West Virginia coach Bob Huggins to call timeout 14 seconds later to get his team organized for a critical offensive possession.

 

What came out of that was a Daxter Miles Jr. three to make it a two-point game.

 

“We got the look we wanted,” said Huggins. “The first look was Jaysean (Paige) on the baseline, which you figured they were going to guard him. Then I thought we could get it close because we’re screening, rolling, diving and bringing the opposite post guy into the middle of the lane. What it did was collapse everything defensively and we were able to kick it back out to Dax and Dax made a three.”

 

After two Keenan Evans free throws for Texas Tech - two of the 32 the Red Raiders made this afternoon on 34 attempts – Jaysean Paige was able to match those with a pair of free throws at the other end with 1:14 to go.

 

Four seconds later, Devin Williams was called for his fifth foul, this one on Zach Smith, who sank two more free throws to make it 76-72, Texas Tech.

 

That’s when Phillip took over.

 

He banged home a three from the wing with 56 seconds left to make it a one-point game, 76-75, and then he alertly stripped the ball out of Ross’ hands as he was going in to score the go-ahead basket.

 

Phillip took the ball the length of the court and was able to get his layup shot to go down with Smith all over him. Smith was called for a foul and Phillip hit the free throw. Phillip also scored on a breakaway dunk to tally the final eight points of the game.

 

“I thought they were going to flare Gotcher, that’s generally what they do when they need a basket,” said Huggins of Texas Tech’s final offensive possession. “Nate (Adrian) switched the deal and did a pretty good job on the baseline guarding the baseline and they kicked it out. Now Gotcher got a shot, but it was kind of a hurried shot.

 

“Then we fumbled the ball again, they get it and they’re going out of bounds so they throw it in and it goes to half court and we ended up with a dunk … just the way I drew it up.”

 

If you recall, Philip was the hero in West Virginia’s double-overtime victory over Kansas State to begin Big 12 play three weeks ago.

 

West Virginia’s bench made a big difference once again today, Paige scoring a game-high 22 points with Phillip contributing 20.

 

Both reserve guards, after struggling to make shots in West Virginia’s seven-point loss Wednesday against Texas, combined to shoot 11-of-21 from the floor today, including four-of-10 from three.

 

Jonathan Holton scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds while Miles Jr. added 11.

 

Devin Williams, as he did during last Saturday’s game at Oklahoma, spent a majority of the game watching from the bench because of early foul trouble. The junior forward managed to score just five points and grab four rebounds in 16 minutes of action.

 

Texas Tech, now 12-6, 2-5, got 18 points from Smith and 12 points from Gotcher.

 

A crowd of 10,732 watched today’s game.

 

West Virginia’s win this afternoon puts the Mountaineers in a four-way tie with Kansas, Oklahoma and Baylor for first place in the Big 12 standings with 5-2 records. Oklahoma defeated Baylor earlier today and Kansas plays at Iowa State on Monday night.

 

West Virginia returns to the Coliseum to play Kansas State on Tuesday night.