Box Score KANSAS CITY – Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger probably wishes it was 15 years ago when instant replay was not a part of college basketball.
 
Three years ago, Buddy Hield's half-court shot that would have defeated West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals was waved off following an official's review, and tonight, Christian James' 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime was ruled a 2 when instant replay clearly showed his left foot touching the line.

"First thing I did was look over to see if (ESPN commentator) Fran Fraschilla jumped up on the table screaming 'Hield, Hield!'" West Virginia coach Bob Huggins joked.

Kruger's reaction to the game's final play is a little bit different than Huggins': "Even in the review, it looked like the pump fake he was behind the line and when he did the pump fake he moved it ever so slightly to get on the line," he said.
 
So instead of overtime, 10^th-seeded West Virginia pulled out a 72-71 victory over the seventh-seeded Sooners in the second game of tonight's Phillips 66 Championship at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
 
No. 8 seed TCU held on to defeat No. 9 seed Oklahoma State in tonight's opening matchup.
 
West Virginia (13-19) led by as many as eight points in the first half before the Sooners used a 10-3 run to take 28-27 lead on Brady Manek's basket with 4:11 remaining.
 
A couple of Lamont West baskets put WVU back ahead 31-28, but Oklahoma used a 7-2 run to close out the first half with a 35-33 lead. 
 
It was James again who hit the big shot with eight seconds left to give the Sooners the halftime lead.
 
Oklahoma expanded its lead to six on Rashard Odomes three-point play early in the second half, but WVU used an 8-0 run over a three-minute stretch to take a 50-47 lead on Jordan McCabe's 3 with 11:39 remaining.
 
Another McCabe 3 put West Virginia ahead 53-49 and a Jermaine Haley baseline drive kept the margin at four with 9:23 remaining. WVU's lead got to six when Maney was called for goal tending on Logan Routt's baseline shot attempt.
 
But a Kristian Doolittle three-point play with 4:29 left pulled the Sooners to within one, 64-63, where it remained with 2:10 to go when Doolittle made two more free throws.
 
After Lamont West missed a deep 3-point attempt with the shot clock winding down, freshman guard Brandon Knapper came up with the biggest defensive play of the game when he knocked the ball away from Jamal Bienemy. That led to Derek Culver's stick-back basket with 1:02 left to put WVU ahead 72-69.
 
Twice, Oklahoma had good looks to score and both times its shot attempts didn't go down. Doolittle came up short on an open jumper behind the foul line with 46 seconds to go and Bienemy missed a difficult 3-point try from the wing with 12 seconds remaining.
 
Haley grabbed Bienemy's miss and was fouled with seven seconds to go. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, opening the door for James to tie it with a 3 at the end.

"I'm going to be honest, I thought we were only up by 2 points so I don't know if you guys saw me at the end but I was on the ground thinking we had lost," Haley said.
 
West led the Mountaineers with 15 points while Haley added 14 and McCabe, after going scoreless in the first half, finished with 12.

"We knew our only chance to make the postseason or the NCAA Tournament was going to be this tournament right here, so we came in knowing we had nothing to lose," McCabe said. "That meant we should play as hard or harder than anybody else in this tournament."

"They're having fun and they're playing hard," Huggins said. "They're excited about playing together and they're trying to do the things we ask them to do that we had other guys do. I think when you're playing four freshmen like we are if they continue to get better, I think that bodes well for the following years."
 
Culver, spending a good portion of the first half on the bench after picking up two quick fouls, scored 6 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Haley led WVU with a season-high 12 boards to help the Mountaineers to a 46-36 advantage on the glass.
 
In all three games against the Sooners this season, WVU held a significant advantage against OU on the backboard.

"I thought West Virginia really dictated on the boards," Kruger said. "We had trouble keeping them from second shots, especially late in the game. That's always a big factor with West Virginia and I thought they, again, won that battle with us."
 
Routt and Andrew Gordon gave West Virginia a big lift off the bench in place of Culver, the duo combining to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds.

"Andrew just started playing basketball so he's going to make some mistakes and we realize that," Huggins said. "Logan has been in the program. This is his fourth year and I thought he did a really good job of staying in front of his man. That was really good to see.

"Obviously, we've got to have some confidence in them because we're going to play them," Huggins added. "They've got to play."
 
Manek scored 22 and Doolittle had 18 for the Sooners, who drop to 19-13 and will now have to wait for Selection Sunday to see if they get into the NCAA Tournament.
 
West Virginia (13-19) advances to tomorrow night's quarterfinal game where they will face second-seeded Texas Tech at 7 p.m. EST. 

"It feels good any time you win, but I think when you've done this as long as I have and as long as Lon has, winning is kind of a relief and losing is like a near-death experience," Huggins said. "I'm relieved."
 
Tomorrow night's contest will be televised nationally on ESPN2.