McBride’s late bucket completes comeback, lifts No. 11 West Virginia over No. 10 Texas Tech

Down 12 points with less than seven minutes remaining and a meatgrinder of a schedule looming ahead, the West Virginia Mountaineers — led by Miles McBride — found a way to mount a comeback and defend their home court. A last second runner from McBride would put the Mountaineers back in the lead for the first time in over 16 minutes, and would lift eleventh-ranked West Virginia over the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders, 88-87.

West Virginia opened the game with a hot hand, shooting 60% from beyond the arc and maintaining a 10 point lead with just over five minutes remaining. That lead was quickly erased, however, as turnover woes reared their ugly head and allowed Chris Beard’s Red Raiders to bring the game to a tie at 39 points heading into the half.

The turnover troubles continued into the second half, as the Mountaineers failed to get anything going offensively, leading to a three minute scoring drought that allowed Texas Tech to build a 12 point lead of their own with just under 11 minutes remaining.

After a second chance layup from freshman Jalen Bridges created a spark, West Virginia began to chip away at the lead. A made three from McBride with just over five minute remaining would close the Red Raiders’ lead to five and put the momentum firmly in the Mountaineers’ corner.

West Virginia continued to chip away, eventually knotting the game up at 84-84 with another McBride triple. Mac McClung gave Texas Tech the lead one last time with a knock-down three of his own, but it wouldn’t last long as Taz Sherman laid one in to trim the lead and set the Mountaineers up for one last play from McBride.

McBride led the Mountaineers with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Jalen Bridges and Sean McNeil each finished with 13 points, with Bridges adding five rebounds and two blocks to his statline. The trio of Derek Culver, Taz Sherman and Jordan McCabe each chipped in 10 points.

Tech’s Mac McClung led all scorers with 30 points.

The Mountaineers are back in action on Saturday, when they’ll take on the Florida Gators in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. West Virginia has announced that there will be limited seating for fans for the first time this season. That game is scheduled to tip at 2PM and will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.