CLEVELAND — West Virginia had another opportunity at the end to get a win. This time, they were able to extend things to overtime, but they came up short again, falling to Ohio State, 78-75.
With 2:03 to play in overtime, Ohio State (11-2) led 77-71. The Mountaineers looked to be on their way to another loss where they couldn’t hang on late. RaeQuan Battle would attempt a three-pointer, and it would fall short.
He appeared to possibly get hit, but there was no foul called. Interim head coach Josh Eilert would be hit with a technical foul arguing the call, but Ohio State’s Roddy Gayle missed both free throws.
Battle got a steal and a slam on the following possession to cut Ohio State’s lead to three. Gayle would then drive to the lane, and his shot was short then, but the Buckeyes got the offensive rebound. Evan Mahaffey missed both free throws, before Kerr Kriisa had the ball in his hands with under 15 seconds left.
Kriisa would be fouled, miss the front end of the two free throws, and Ohio State dribbled out the final seconds.
West Virginia (5-8) headed to Cleveland to close out their non-conference portion of their schedule.
Things started off in about the worst way possible for the Mountaineers, as the offense struggled to find their stride, while WVU couldn’t stay out of foul trouble on offense.
RaeQuan Battle, who was coming off back-to-back 29-point performances hit a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Mountaineers, but would be charged with two fouls early, and sit out the final 13:30 of the first half.
Outside of Battle’s early three-pointer, the Mountaineers seemingly had a lid on their basket. West Virginia opened the game going 2 for 10 from the field, while Ohio State was 6 for 10 from the field and led 14-5.
The Buckeyes would take a 24-10 lead, before the Mountaineers were able to begin to make a mark on the glass. WVU was getting out-rebounded 21-8, but over the final 7:42, the Mountaineers out-rebounded Ohio State 11-6 and that coincided with WVU going on a 16-4 run to close the first half.
West Virginia switched into a zone defense, causing Ohio State to go 1 for 12 to close the half from the floor, while WVU scored seven of their 16 points from the free throw line, trailing 28-26 at the half, after they trailed by as many as 14 in the opening 20 minutes.
To start the second half, West Virginia was able to hold their own on the glass, unlike the way they started the first half. Josiah Harris was able to get a putback from an offensive rebound, then making the free throw, putting the Mountaineers down four with 13:09 to play.
After both teams struggled to shoot the ball for the majority of the night, halfway through the second half, shots started to fall.
Ohio State made three three-pointers over a 1:58 period, while the Mountaineers countered with a three-pointer and a layup, as the Buckeyes went in from 53-47 with 8:24 to play.
Noah Farrakhan struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, going 2 for 10 from the field. In the second half, his ability to get to the rim would be West Virginia’s best offense. Farrakhan had 11 points scored, but picked up fouls on back-to-back possessions, including fouling OSU’s Roddy Gayle on a three-pointer, as he made all three of his free throws and the Buckeyes went in fron 56-49.
Farrakhan would be whistled for his fourth foul on the other end of the floor going after a rebound, exiting the game with 7:25 to play.
The Mountaineers would work their way back in the game, again with their success coming at the rim. Quinn Slazinski hit a runner in the lane, and then after a stop, Slazinski found Pat Suemnick in the lane, making a layup and the free throw as WVU trailed 61-58 with 4:22 to play.
After a West Virginia timeout with 3:35 to play, the Mountaineer and Buckeyes would go down to the wire. Suemnick scored WVU’s final four points from the field on back-to-back layups, tying the game at 65-65 with 29 seconds to play.
On the following possession, Gayle would have the chance to win the game, but he was bottled up sending the game into overtime.
In overtime, Ohio State’s offensive firepower was on full display to start the final five minutes. OSU’s Jamison Battle hit a three-pointer, and Gayle would follow suit. Bruce Thornton would hit a three-pointer to put the Buckeyes in front 77-71, and then drew a charge on the other end.
West Virginia was led by Battle who had 24 points on 9 for 19 shooting, and he went 3 for 8 from three-point range. WVU struggled to shoot the ball from deep, going 5 for 22.
Gayle paced Ohio State with a career-high 32 points on 11 for 21 shooting, as the Buckeyes knocked down 11 of their 34 three-pointers. Battle added 17 for Ohio State, while Thornton added another 11.
