Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia was oh so close, but the Mountaineers once again just couldn't quite get over the hump.

Third-ranked Baylor made its last four shots in overtime and got a couple of late free throws from Adam Flagler and Davion Mitchell to down No. 6 West Virginia 94-89 in an epic college basketball game Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Jared Butler scored 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting before fouling out in overtime, Mitchell finished with 20 and Matthew Mayer came off the bench to contribute 18 in leading Baylor to its first regular season conference title in more than 60 years.
 
It was Mayer who made some really big shots in the second half to keep Baylor within striking distance. 
 
"They made shots when they had to make shots and we didn't, they made free throws when they had to and we didn't and they basically made plays," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, still two wins shy of 900, said afterward. "They're a much more veteran team than we are and we kind didn't do what we needed to do when we needed to do it."
 
In a game that had 10 lead changes and nine ties, it came down to a handful of WVU miscues that Baylor managed to capitalize on.
 
The first one came near the end of the first half after West Virginia had battled back from a 12-point deficit and was trailing by only one with 1.4 seconds showing on the clock. An offensive foul called on Mayer gave WVU possession of the ball underneath Baylor's basket.
 
But Taz Sherman turned the ball over trying to inbound it and Butler made the Mountaineers pay with a difficult 3 ahead of the horn, giving Baylor a four-point lead at the break instead of a one advantage.
 
WVU's inability to inbound the ball at the beginning of the second half also cost it a valuable timeout that Huggins could have used late in the game.
 
"That hurt us," Huggins admitted. "I don't understand how we can't get the ball in bounds. How can everybody run down the floor and not know the ball needs to be inbounded. That's what happens when you are in a pressure situation and you don't think.

"Those two inbounds deals means two more possessions (for the other team)," he added.
 
West Virginia was terrific at the free throw line, making 28-of-32 including nine-of-10 from 59% free throw shooter Derek Culver, but two misses were costly.
 
The first came with 13 seconds left when two Miles McBride free throws could have given WVU a three-point lead. He could only get the second one to go down and Butler sent the game to overtime on a driving layup with two seconds left.
 
A Sherman miss with 1:15 to go in overtime could have given WVU a two-point lead. Following the miss, Mitchell went right to the basket to convert a layup, and then Mark Vital was able to knock the ball away from Sherman to give the Bears possession of the basketball with 37 seconds left. 
 
West Virginia's players were instructed to foul Vital, a 47% free throw shooter, but 80% foul shooter Flagler was fouled instead. He made both to put the Bears ahead 92-89. Two more Mitchell free throws with 18 seconds remaining put the game on ice.
 
One other significant play occurred with 2:52 left in overtime and West Virginia leading 85-83. Freshman forward Jalen Bridges, who had just hit a big 3 to beat the shot clock, came up with a steal near the Baylor bench and instead of collecting it and maintaining possession to run some clock, he chose to push the ball up the floor and his pass to Sherman led him out of bounds.
 
Butler immediately took advantage of the turnover with a 3 to put the Bears ahead 86-85. 
 
"We had a heck of a chance," said Huggins. "We throw it out of bounds for no reason whatsoever. We miss free throws and we don't execute.
 
"The bench is screaming to foul Vital, who had just missed two free throws, and we ended up fouling one of their guards," Huggins added.
 
Baylor shot 13-of-31 from behind the arc and 51.4% overall on 36-of-70.
 
West Virginia didn't quite shoot it as well (26 of 56 overall), but it got four-of-eight from Sean McNeil from behind the 3-point arc and a game-high 26 from Sherman.
 
As he did in the Texas win, McNeil got hot in the second half by scoring 15 of his 18 points after intermission.
 
McBride contributed 19 points and a game-high eight assists.
 
The two teams scored a combined 96 points in the second half and overtime.
 
West Virginia's biggest lead was seven with 13:54 to go in the second half while Baylor's was 12 at about the same time in the first half.
 
"I thought we competed," Huggins said. "We made some hard shots."
 
Forward Gabe Osabuohien, who did not attempt a field goal nor scored a point, was a big loss for the Mountaineers when he fouled out with 1:05 left in regulation. The senior was the most efficient player on the floor for either team at plus-15.
 
Culver did not make a field goal but finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Baylor (19-1, 11-1) outscored West Virginia 42-20 in the paint and forced the Mountaineers to turn the ball over 16 times.
 
This was West Virginia's fourth loss at the Coliseum this season - two in overtime to Oklahoma and Baylor, one on a last second shot to Texas and the other by a two-possession margin to Florida.
 
"This was hard because we had a huge chance to win it," Huggins said. 
 
West Virginia (17-7, 10-5) now has two regular season games remaining at the Coliseum on Thursday night against TCU and then on Saturday afternoon against 17^th-ranked Oklahoma State.
 
Two victories can lock up second place in the Big 12 standings and give the Mountaineers a first-round bye in next week's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
 
"As I told (the team), this loss can't turn into another one," Huggins said. "If we do what we're supposed to do and win a day after tomorrow and we do what we're supposed to do on Saturday then we finish second, which means we're not playing early in the week. We get a little bit more rest and can clean some things up."