Honor Huff Saves WVU Basketball in Win Over Stanford to Keep Crown Pursuit Alive

Despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament, WVU basketball showed they are still worthy of wearing a crown on Thursday night. Thanks to a late comeback, West Virginia beat Stanford by the score of 82-77 in overtime at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

The Cardinal kept Honor Huff in check early in the game, but the Mountaineers were able to find scoring elsewhere, something that was often an issue during the regular season.

Brenen Lorient led the way until Huff could get going, scoring nine points off seven shots as WVU built what was then their largest advantage yet at 33-25 with 1:35 on the first half clock. That lead would turn into 35-29 at the half.

Huff eventually found his stroke, connecting on two of his first three shots from the field, granted he failed to hit a single three in the first half.

Chance Moore dominated the glass with five rebounds and Jasper Floyd did his part with four points, a pair of rebounds and an assist in the opening session.

Then, at the open of the second half, Treysen Eaglestaff got more involved by splashing threes mixed with foul shots.

Driven by star guard Ebuka Okorie, Stanford continually stayed in the game, even eventually taking the lead. He generated about half of his team’s offense, already converting 8-of-16 shots for 21 points with 11:49 remaining.

A three from Okorie would follow, as he totaled all of his team’s 13 points during a particular span. The task was clear for the Mountaineers. Contain Okorie enough and win. Okorie wrapped up his performance with 34 points in 43 minutes.

The score was all tied up at 51-51 as the clock read 8:22 and then pushed to 59-55 in favor of the Cardinal at 6:31. Stanford’s advantage grew as much as eight – 65-57 at 3:28.

WVU never gave up and kept clawing away in the final minute, sending it to overtime when Huff drilled a trio of free throws after getting fouled way beyond the arc in the closing seconds.

Huff, who finished the night with 20, continued saving the day in the overtime period, scoring 10 of his team’s 15 during most of the extra session. Eaglestaff had 18, going 5-for-11 rom the field and a pair of two big threes. Lorient scored 14 of his own with seven rebounds.

With the victory, West Virginia moves on in their attempt to claim the crown of the best of the rest and will face the winner of Rutgers and Creighton in the College Basketball Crown’s semifinal round on Saturday.

Find more coverage of  WVU basketball at WV Sports Now.