Best Virginia eliminated in TBT semifinals by Eberlein Drive
And rebounds, those darned rebounds.
Want to know the difference between playing for $1 million and heading home empty-handed?
In the case of Best Virginia on Thursday, the WVU alumni team came out on the short end of an 85-77 loss in the TBT semifinals against Eberlein Drive because of a lucky bank and its inability to clean up the glass.
Eberlein Drive guard Gabe York, a former standout at Arizona, owned the Charleston Coliseum with 25 points, including two 3-pointers during the Elam Ending.
One of them came with only one second remaining on the shot clock, while standing on just one foot and leaning so hard to the right it appeared he was about to fall over.
That shot somehow banked in to give Eberlein Drive an 82-77 lead. A moment later, he ended the game with another three, this one while coming off a screen and launching about a 26-footer from straight away.
'They just hit timely shots,' Best Virginia head coach Jarrod West said. 'You have to give them credit. Sometimes the basketball gods don't shine down on you. He hit one off the glass. He hit a fade-away three that's hard to defend. They just made tough shots. That's basketball.'
Eberlein Drive advanced to Sunday's championship game against either Aftershocks or We Are D3.
'The next one was going up,' said York, who had two of his three 3-pointers during the Elam Ending. 'After a shot like that first one, the next one has got to go up. Coming off that screen, they were a little late switching, so I had to get it up and it just fell through for me.'
Besides York's shooting, Best Virginia's other issue was rebounding. Get this: Eberlein Drive came away with a dominating 43-22 advantage on the glass.
'Our initial defense, the first-shot defense, was pretty solid,' West said. 'When you continue to give up two shots or three shots, they're eventually going to score. I don't know how many second-chance points they got, but it definitely played a factor.'
Those second-chance points read: Eberlein Drive 21, Best Virginia 3.
'That was one advantage we saw going into the game,' York said. 'Our big guys, (Nate) Watson and (Pedro) Bradshaw really love playing close to the rim. We thought their bigs like to stay outside and shoot threes. We wanted to try and take advantage on the inside.'
And with all of that, Eberlein Drive's lead was just 77-75 when the team called a timeout to force the Elam Ending. The target score was set at 85 and well …
A bank, a 26-footer and another shot from the corner – all from York – accounted for all of Eberlein Drive's points.
'First of all, York is a good player,' Best Virginia guard Jarrod West – the son of the head coach – said. 'He's hunting shots, so he shoots with a lot of confidence. That's probably one of the toughest things about guarding him.
'The bank is what it is. Unfortunately that happens. That's the toughest one to accept, because you feel like you play good defense for 29 seconds and then he banks one in.'
All Best Virginia could muster was a jumper from James Reese during the Elam Ending. Reese had surpassed 20 points in each of Best Virginia's first four games, but he finished with 15 points on Thursday.
Reese did get it going in the second half, when he scored 11 of his 15, but he finished just 1 of 4 from 3-point range. Reese, a former standout at North Texas and South Carolina, was attempting to become the first player since former BYU All-American Jimmer Fredette in 2018 to surpass 20 points in five straight TBT games.
The younger West, who played his college ball at Marshall and Louisville, added 10 points and eight assists. Former WVU standout Toby Okani came off the bench to add 14 points.
Terry Taylor added 12 points and seven rebounds for Eberlein Drive.
'It hurts, especially when you're that close,' coach West said. 'They made some tough shots down the stretch. I just met with the guys and it was a blessing for two weeks this summer to be with great guys. I told them they represented the state and represented their families very well. I just wish we could have taken one more step. We just came up a little short.'
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