WVU defeats No. 24 Arizona in the Battle 4 Atlantis game for third place

For the third straight day, West Virginia played in an overtime game.

Unlike yesterday, but similar to Wednesday, the Mountaineers caught fire in the extra session as Tucker DeVries scored 26 total points and Toby Okani added 20 as WVU defeated No. 24 Arizona 83-76 on Friday.

Arizona started the game brightly, leading 10-3 within the first five minutes. That lead held until Tucker DeVries made his first appearance of the entire tournament for the Mountaineers.

DeVries scored 17 points in the first half and made five 3-pointers. WVU took the lead with 8:46 left in the first half after the Mountaineers went on a 6-0 run with Toby Okani hitting a jump shot to give WVU a 21-20 lead.

It went back and forth, with Arizona leading by six with 4:09 to play before DeVries caught some serious fire. DeVries scored nine straight points, all on 3-pointers, before also making two free throws with 1:09 to play as the Mountaineers led 39-37 at halftime.

West Virginia’s lead held at the start of the second half and grew to as many as five before Arizona tied the game at 46-46 with 15:03 to play.

The Mountaineers responded with an 8-0 run and all of the points came from scorers other than DeVries. West Virginia extended its lead to 10 points twice, but the Wildcats continued to respond to the Mountaineers.

Caleb Love hit a three-pointer with just under 7:00 minutes left in the game as WVU’s lead was cut to 61-56. Devries had several chances on offense to extend WVU’s lead, but was unable to find a breakthrough. At the same time, WVU increased its control on defense as both teams remained scoreless for nearly three minutes before Javon Small made two free throws. Arizona responded when KJ Lewis made a layup and was fouled by DeVries, his fourth, cutting WVU’s lead to four with 4:11 to play.

West Virginia would keep the ball after a timeout, but they turned it over, leading to a layup by Arizona that cut WVU’s lead to 63-61. WVU would get a stop on defense before DeVries found Okani for a 3-pointer, giving WVU a five-point lead with just under 2:00 minutes to play.

Arizona made a layup with 47 seconds left in the game before Small went on offense for WVU and failed to convert. Then Love came right back for Arizona, hitting a 3-pointer and tying the game at 66-66 with 14.1 seconds to play. WVU turned to DeVries, who went for a jumper at the elbow but missed as time expired, sending it into overtime.

In overtime, WVU scored the first five points when Amani Hansberry made a layup before DeVries made his eighth three-pointer of the afternoon to give WVU a five-point lead. Okani then made a jumper and a 3-pointer before Small hit two free throws to give West Virginia a 78-70 lead with 1:32 left in overtime.

West Virginia then used two timeouts as Arizona cornered the Mountaineers, but they finally turned it over with 50 seconds to play.

Love made an easy layup off the inbounds pass as WVU’s lead was cut to four with 49.2 minutes left in the game. With 46.2 seconds left in the game, after being fouled, Small returned to the free throw line and made both free throws to regain the lead with six seconds left.

WVU got a stop on defense when Small returned to the free throw line and made two more as they went up by eight with 27 seconds left.

Small came back to three free throws after a quick hit by the Wildcats, missing the first shot before making the second to give West Virginia a seven-point lead. Arizona made a 3-pointer but missed it as WVU was in a position to dribble out the clock.

WVU finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field and 12-for-34 from three-point range. Arizona made 45 percent of its shots and went 7 for 21 from three.

WVU finishes the Battle 4 Atlantis 2-1 with two ranked wins over No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 24 Arizona.