West Virginia Topples No. 25 Texas
Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (6-10) captured their first Big 12 Conference win of the season over the No. 25 Texas Longhorns (12-4) Saturday evening 76-73. West Virginia forward Pat Suemnick led the Mountaineers with 16 points.
Team + Individual Stats vs. No. 25 Texas
West Virginia point guard Kerr Kriisa buried a three to give the Mountaineers a 3-2 advantage, then moments later, followed with his second three of the half to, again, give the Mountaineers a one-point advantage, 10-9, at the 14:34 mark of the first half.
West Virginia forward Akok Akok's gave the Mountaineers their largest first half lead of four with a pair of free three, 15-11, near the midway point of the half.
Mountaineer forward Pat Suemnick made his second consecutive start and provided a much-needed offensive spark with two reverse layups on his way to an 11-point half to lead all scorers at the break as West Virginia held a 30-28 lead at halftime.
Kriisa opened the second half with a three to extend the Mountaineers lead to five, but a 7-0 run by the Longhorns gave Texas 35-33 lead early in the second quarter.
Texas would build a three-point advantage, but an 8-0 run by the Mountaineers, sparked by an emphatic slam dunk on an offensive putback by Suemnick, followed by threes from Krissa and forward Quinn Slazinksi gave West Virginia a 43-38 lead at the 14:23 mark of the second half.
West Virginia put together a 10-2 run that started with an Akok three and five Mountaineer free throws extended the WVU lead to 11 with 5:45 left to play.
Texas quickly got back into the contest and cut the Mountaineer lead to four but a pair of free throws by Kriisa after a drive to the basket, pushed the WVU back to six, 65-59, with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Texas cut the deficit to three but a nice pass from guard Noah Farrakhan to a cutting Akok down the lane for the dunk put the Mountaineers back up five with 45 second left to play.
The Mountaineers closed the game out from the charity stripe, hitting five consecutive free throws to maintain a five-point lead before a Texas turnover with 9.1 remaining in the game sealed a 76-73 upset victory over the Longhorns.
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