Latest news with #Okani
Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Best Virginia survives, sets up TBT showdown with Herd That
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.
Associated Press
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
BYU tops West Virginia 73-69 behind 16 points from freshman Egor Demin
The AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here. MORGANTOWN, (AP) — Freshman Egor Demin scored 16 points to lead BYU to a 73-69 win over West Virginia on Tuesday night. Kanon Catchings added 11 points for BYU (16-8, 7-6 Big 12). Toby Okani scored 16 points and Jonathan Powell and Joseph Yesufu added 11 apiece for the Mountaineers (15-9, 6-7). Demin's long 3-pointer as the shot clock expired gave BYU a 68-65 lead with 3:48 left. Okani made back-to-back baskets off of offensive rebounds to put West Virginia ahead 69-68 with 2:13 left. But Okani fouled Demin, who hit two free throws with 58 seconds left to put BYU ahead for good, 70-69. Yesufu missed a 3-pointer, BYU got the rebound and Mihailo Boskovic made a layup and was fouled with 9.3 seconds left. Boskovic made the ensuing free throw for the final margin. West Virginia's Javon Small, the Big 12's leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, was held to nine points. Small fell hard on a drive to the basket just before halftime and landed on his back. He was fouled on the play, made two free throws, then went to the bench briefly before returning to the court. Powell was left wide open in the right corner in the closing seconds of the first half and he sank a 3-pointer to give West Virginia a 34-32 lead at the break. BYU's Trey Stewart, who had scored nine points all season, had eight against the Mountaineers. Both teams play again on Saturday, with BYU hosting Kansas State and West Virginia playing at Baylor. ___
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
3 keys to Utah's 72-61 loss at West Virginia
Utah's road woes continued, as the Runnin' Utes lost at West Virginia 72-61 on Saturday afternoon. Toby Okani was huge for the Mountaineers in the first half and finished with nine points, and Javon Small came on strong, scoring 14 points, dishing out eight assists and grabbing four rebounds. Keanu Dawes led the Utes with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Here are three keys to another Big 12 road loss for the Utes. After Utah forward Keanu Dawes hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 24-24 with four minutes remaining in the first half, West Virginia responded with a 10-3 run to close out the half and give the Mountaineers their biggest lead yet. Okani was the catalyst in the run, starting it off with a layup. He also had a steal that led to a fast-break layup by Joseph Yesufu and finished the half off with a 3-pointer to boost West Virginia's lead to 36-27. Prior to Okani's final 3-pointer of the half, he blocked Utah center Lawson Lovering, bringing the sold-out WVU Coliseum to its collective feet. The closing run gave West Virginia all of the momentum heading into the second half, and Utah was never unable to overcome the deficit. West Virginia entered the game with one of the toughest defenses in the Big 12, and it showed against a Utah team that has struggled on offense over the last few games. Only two Utah players scored in double-digits on Saturday — Dawes with 14 and Jake Wahlin with 10, and the Utes had just 11 assists. West Virginia's ball pressure made it tough for Utah to get into its actions constantly and forced the Utes into some tough shots. Utah shot just 41.1% from the field and 26.1% from 3, and while the Utes turned the ball over just 10 times compared to 15 earlier this week against Colorado, those turnovers led to 16 West Virginia points. In the loss, Dawes had another double-digit performance, his third in the last four games. Dawes' 14 points led the Runnin' Utes' scorers, and he was a key part in a second-half bench-powered run that cut the Mountaineers' lead from 14 to six, as he contributed seven of those points. West Virginia regrouped following that run however, never allowing the Runnin' Utes to get within less than five points.
