Best Virginia survives, sets up TBT showdown with Herd That

Dominion Post

a day ago

MORGANTOWN — Best Virginia squandered a 17-point lead to begin the fourth quarter and had to pull off a mini-comeback Friday night to pull off a 72-69 over DuBois (Pa.) Dream in the opening round of TBT.
Toby Okani sank two free throws to end the game inside the Charleston Coliseum, but the WVU alumni team, seeded third in the West Virginia Regional, had to overcome a 69-65 deficit in the final moments to do so.
BOX SCORE
The victory sets up another meeting against Marshall's alumni team, Herd That, at 5 p.m. Sunday (FS1).
Herd That — the No. 2 seed in the region — beat SIKH Warriors, 84-71, in the opening round.
Best Virginia led 62-45 heading into the fourth quarter, but that's when disaster struck.
It turned the ball over six times and made just one basket before the Elam Ending was set up.
By that time, Dubois Dream had closed to within 64-60 — the target score was 72 points — and took a 69-65 lead after a dunk from Shane Hunter.
Best Virginia's Tre Mitchell scored off a turnover and then took a 70-69 lead from a free throw by Kedrian Johnson and lay-up from Mitchell.
The Dream went for the win with a 3-point attempt that came up short and Okani was fouled and went to the line for the win.
A 57.3% free-throw shooter during his one season at WVU in 2024-25, Okani calmly sank both free throws for the win.
'Survive and advance sometimes is pretty and sometimes is ugly,' Best Virginia head coach Jarrod West said. 'All of our downfalls and negative plays they created, so you have to give them all the credit. But if we win five more games like that, we walk away with $1 million. To these guys' credit, they're dogs.'
James Reese, who played collegiately for Buffalo, North Texas and South Carolina, led Best Virginia with 21 points on 8 of 19 shooting.
Mitchell added 13 points and Okani had nine points and 11 rebounds.
Best Virginia shot 40% (26 of 65) for the game and turned the ball over 35 times.
Jacorey Williams, a former Conference USA Player of the Year while at Middle Tennessee State, scored 29 points and added 10 rebounds to lead Herd That to the second round.
Williams began his college career at Arkansas, but landed at Middle Tennessee State after being dismissed from the Razorbacks.
Herd That came away with a 46-34 edge on the glass with Derek Cooke Jr. adding eight points and 11 rebounds.
Jean Pierre Tokoto added 18 points for Herd That.