Box Score Undermanned West Virginia's rally from a 10-point second half deficit fell short as 24^th-ranked Virginia held on for a 56-54 victory in the consolation game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida.
 
Virginia appeared to be taking control of the game with 13:18 remaining when Andrew Rohde's put-back basket gave the Cavaliers a 36-26 lead.
 
But West Virginia, using just seven players, went on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to take the lead, 42-40, on Kobe Johnson's 3. Virginia scored the next five, but Quinn Slazinski answered with a 3 to tie the game at 45.
 
The Mountaineers retook the lead with 1:55 left on Seth Wilson's 3, and later tied it at 54 on three Slazinski free throws when he was fouled behind the arc by Ryan Dunn.
 
However, West Virginia was unable to secure the rebound on Dunn's missed 3, Leon Bond Lii getting the offensive board, and Slazinski fouled Reece Beekman in the act of shooting with two seconds remaining. Beekman made the first of two and his second was rebounded by Dunn, who was fouled by Ofri Naveh. Dunn made one of two with no time left for WVU to attempt a miracle shot.
 
"If we get a rebound here or there, we have a heck of a chance to win that game," West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said.
 
Otherwise, West Virginia (2-3) had its way on the glass, outrebounding Virginia 41-28 for the game, but the Mountaineers struggled on the boards late in the game once 6-foot-11 center Jesse Edwards picked up his fourth foul.
 
Edwards, who finished with a game-high 17 points and 9 rebounds, missed a couple of critical free throws in the second half when WVU needed points and finished 3 of 6 from the charity stripe.
 
Slazinski was the only other Mountaineer player to reach double figures with 17. Wilson (9) and Johnson (8) scored all their points in the second half.
 
West Virginia shot 37.3% (19 of 51) from the floor, 33.3% from 3 (7 of 21) and 62.5% from the free throw line (9 of 13).
 
Virginia (5-1) got 13 points from Dunn and 12 from Beekman. Poca's Isaac McKneely contributed 8 on just 2 of 9 shooting. The Cavaliers were slightly better from the floor connecting on 21 of 52 for 40.4%, but were  just 4 of 18 from behind the arc.
 
The Cavaliers capitalized on West Virginia's 16 turnovers by scoring 18 points off them.
 
"I'm not really into moral victories even though we were shorthanded and have a lot of challenges," Eilert said. "That's not my message to them. We're going to compete each and every night. We have a very small margin for error so we've got to be careful not to lose our heads down the stretch like we did tonight."
 
Specifically, there was an instance when a double technical foul was called on both teams for some pushing and shoving. Eilert wants his guys to concentrate on each other rather than talking to the other team.
 
"We're taking too much," he said. "I want them to communicate and over-communicate with each another, but we don't need to be talking to the other team or the other bench. I'm going to get that cleaned up."
 
West Virginia dropped its opening game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off to SMU, which faces Wisconsin in the championship game later tonight.

"I'm proud of the way our kids competed, but it sucks getting back on thar airplane coming home 0-2," Eilert said. "We've got a lot of things to build on, press forward and accept the challenges we have."
 
The Mountaineers return to the WVU Coliseum this Sunday to face Bellarmine in a 5 p.m. game that will be televised on ESPN+.