Baylor outscored West Virginia 9-6 in overtime to defeat the Mountaineers 74-71 at Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas, this afternoon.
 
The Bears got 17 points each from Langston Love and Norchad Omier to improve to 16-9 overall and 8-6 in Big 12 play.
 
West Virginia has now dropped three of its last four and six of its last eight to fall to 15-10 overall and 6-8 in the conference. 
 
"Sometimes there are games when you don't play as hard as you like, you end up losing and those are certainly disappointing, but this was not one of those by any means," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said afterward. "Our guys really competed and played their tails off. They put us in a position to win the game and we certainly had some great looks at critical times and unfortunately, it was one of those (days) when we didn't make them."
 
Today's game once again came down to free throw shooting, as it did in WVU's recent defeats against TCU and BYU.
 
In Fort Worth back on Feb. 5, the Horned Frogs took 18 more foul shots and made the same number more than the Mountaineers. BYU had a seven-free-throw advantage in its four-point win at the Coliseum last Tuesday, and the free throw disparity was 32-to-17 in attempts and 27-to-11 in makes in favor of the Bears today.
 
In 14 conference games so far this year, opponents have made 62 more free throws than the Mountaineers. 
 
"We've got to figure out how to do a better job of keeping people off the free throw line," DeVries said. "When you give a team 27 points and they shoot 32 free throws, it's hard to win."
 
West Virginia turned a six-point deficit into a two-point lead during a two-minute stretch late in the second half and led 61-59 with 3:22 to go on Amani Hansberry's jumper.
 
Unfortunately, that was the final field goal of regulation for the Mountaineers. A pair of free throws by Javon Small and two more from Hansberry knotted the score with 32 seconds left.
 
West Virginia successfully defended Baylor's final offensive possession of regulation and forced Robert Wright to miss with four seconds left. Toby Okani grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Jonathan Powell, whose midcourt shot bounced off the rim as time expired.
 
The extra session was basically a free throw exhibition - Baylor shooting them and West Virginia watching them go in. All nine of the Bears' points in overtime came at the line – four from Love, three from Wright and one each from Omier and Jalen Celestine.
 
The only two field goals in overtime were made by West Virginia, one each from Small and Hansberry.
 
Overall, Baylor shot just 38.9% with the Bears connecting on 21 of their 54 attempts compared to West Virginia, which made 26 of 65 for 40%.
 
WVU outscored Baylor 36 to 26 in the paint, made three more from beyond the 3-point arc and had an 11-to-two edge in second-chance points.
 
Small, who attempted just nine shots in West Virginia's last two games against Utah and BYU, was able to get off 16 today and finished making seven of them for a game-high 22 points. The senior guard hit a pair of 3s and was six of eight from the free throw line.
 
Okani was the only other Mountaineer to reach double figures with 19 points.
 
Wright scored 16 and Celestine added 10 for Baylor. VJ Edgecombe, the Bears' star freshman guard, missed all five of his 3-point tries and finished the game with just seven points.
 
"I was incredibly proud of our fight in a hostile environment against a really talented team," DeVries said. "To come here and do what they did and continue to stay together … I just loved the way we played in the second half moving it, sharing it and guarding our tails off."
 
Baylor has won 12 of its 13 games at Foster Pavilion this season and has claimed 10 of the last 11 meetings against West Virginia, including nine straight in Waco.
 
The Mountaineers return to the WVU Coliseum to face improving Cincinnati on Wednesday night.
 
Since losing to West Virginia in Cincinnati on Feb. 2, the Bearcats have won three-straight against UCF, BYU and Utah prior to today's game against Iowa State.
 
Tickets for the Cincinnati game remain on sale and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.