Mountaineers stumble as Red Raiders rise in Lubbock, 77-76

As per usual in Lubbock, Texas, things got weird, this time to the tune of overtime. The West Virginia men's basketball team fell to Texas Tech by a final score of 77-76 Tuesday night. It was the second Big 12 conference game for both teams.

The No. 7 Mountaineers (12-2, 1-1) found themselves in an expected battle wit the Red Raiders (12-2, 1-1), but could not seem to step out of their own way as they stumbled and bumbled to a loss.

Anthony Livingston was the hero all night for the Red Raiders. After Tarik Phillip gave WVU the lead, Tech patiently waiting for an open shooter. Livingston drained the game-winner from three. Those were his 12th points in the game.

Nathan Adrian pushed the game to overtime with a clutch three with seven seconds remaining after an airball from Teyvon Myers was rebounded by Daxter Miles, Jr.

Ultimately, the Mountaineers were undone by foul shots. Tech shot 30 total foul shots to WVU’s 24. However, WVU had 14 free throws in the OT period, making only six.

Esa Ahmad scored 13 points to lead the Mountaineers, but Tech had four players in double figures. Zach Smith was the game’s leading scorer with 15.

WVU took a 37-35 lead into the half and pushed that lead to seven in the early minutes of the second half. Then, it started to unravel for the Mountaineers.

Tech took a 51-50 lead with 11:30 in the second half in the midst of a 10-2 run. That run was aided in large part to WVU committing enough fouls to push Tech into the bonus. After that, the two teams traded leads.

Tech took a six-point lead the clock passed 3:00. And from there, answered every call WVU gave them until the final minutes. The Mountaineers orchestrated a 5-0 run to tie the game on Adrian’s three with seven seconds left.

The overtime period saw lots of opportunities for the Mountaineers, including 14 foul shots. Despite this, WVU couldn’t cash in and Tech was able to make field goals down the stretch. To push the lead to 74-72.

Tarik Phillip put the Mountaineers up 76-74 with a three pointer, but Livingston answered with the game-winner from three with 4.6 seconds remaining.

In total, the game saw 19 lead changes and 13 ties.

WVU also suffered from the turnover bug, coughing up the ball 14 times. Texas Tech only turned the ball over 13 times.

Despite the loss, props need to be given to Jevon Carter and Adrian, who led the Mountaineers with 40 minutes played.

Now, the Mountaineers must regroup for a Saturday matchup against TCU back in Morgantown.