West Virginia Falls in OT to Ohio State

Cleveland - The West Virginia Mountaineers (5-8) dropped a heartbreaker to the Ohio State Buckeyes (11-2) Saturday night 78-75 in the Legends of Basketball Showcase.

West Virginia guard RaeQuan Battle scored the game's first points with a straightaway three but as a team, the Mountaineers hit one of their next nine while Ohio State went on a 16-3 run for a 16-6 lead at the 11:55 mark of the first half.

The Mountaineers trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but an 11-0 run led by guard Noah Farrakhan and forward Quinn Slazinski's combined nine points brought the Mountaineers within three with 2:30 left in the half.

Mountaineer point guard Kerr Kriisa buried a three from the right wing, tying the game at 26 with just over a minute left to play in the first half but guard Bruce Thornton drove down the left side of the lane for a contested lay-in to put the Buckeyes up two, 28-26, right before the half as Ohio State took the two-point advantage at the break.

A 7-0 spurt by the Buckeyes early in the second half extended their lead to 10 but Farrakhan ended the run with a three from the right side and hit a tough turnaround jumper to cap off a 10-2 WVU run to get back within two, 42-40, at the 11:39 mark of the second half.

Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 10 of his X second half points in five minutes of action to extend the Buckeye lead back to nine. However, West Virginia forward Akok Akok scored on a second chance opportunity, an alley-oop to Battle and a bucket and a foul by Pat Suemnick cut the deficit back to three with 4:22 remaining in the game.

Pat Suemnick tied the game at 65 with 29 seconds remaining off the assist from Farrakhan and forced overtime.

Gayle and forward Jamison Battle hit a pair of threes in the early portion of overtime but RaeQuan Battle's two offensive putbacks kept the Mountaineers within two.

Bruce Thornton buried a three to put the Buckeyes up three with just over two minutes left to play, then a foul on Kriisa during a loose ball put Thornton at the foul line. After missing the second free throw, Ohio State was granted a timeout with both teams battling for the ball as the Buckeyes held a six-point lead.

West Virginia cut the deficit back to three following a fastbreak dunk from RaeQuan Battle. Then, with eight seconds remaining, Kriisa missed the frontend of a one and one as the Buckeyes secured the rebound and ran out the clock for the 78-75 victory

Team + Individual Stats vs. Ohio State

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