What’s harder than realizing that West Virginia will not make it to the Elite Eight is the fact that I have to blog about this roller-coaster ride of a game but for you, Mountaineer Nation, I must.

Missed free throws, the ones that plagued the Eers in losses to Oklahoma, Georgetown, and Pittsburgh, are the big reason that the Eers will not live to fight another day. Add to that the fact that B.J. Raymond hit a wide-open three off of an inbound pass with 31 seconds left and 2 on the shot clock. That shot was the final blow. Give the Eers credit though because they came back from a seemingly insormountable 18-point halftime deficit in the first half to make this a competitive second half. But again, those damn free throws cost us again. Joe Alexander had a chance to make a free throw with 14 seconds left but the pressure to take the lead and likely go to the Elite Eight got to him so much that he threw the foul shot to the back of the rim.

It’s the end of the road for Darris Nichols, who played a school-record 141 games and did not foul out a single time. It’s the end of the road for Jamie Smalligan the Butler transfer who struggled to adjust under Coach Huggs but was a trooper to the end. It’s also the end of the road for celebrated New Martinsville walk-on Ted Talkington. He brought us some good memories (like the one against UCLA) and it’s on to med school for him. We at wvmountaineersports.com wish those three all the best in their future endeavors.

For the quick recap, Xavier jumped up to an 8-0 start 2:30 into the game. While WVU was already sleepwalking Xavier could not miss from 3 starting out. They hit six three-pointers as they lead 28-10 with 9:09 left in the first half. Slowly but surely WVU amped up their zone defense as they started to take care of the ball. The lead started to chip away at 14…..then 12….then 10. Xavier only made two field goals as WVU cut the lead to 32-25 at the half.

WVU kept it going in the second half. They started on an 8-2 run to cut the Musketeer lead to 1. But star senior Josh Duncan could not miss and kept the Xavier lead intact. Then WVU made another 8-2 run to finally take the lead at 51-50 with 9:09 remaining. At this point, Duncan had four fouls and WVU should have taken advantage of that, but they didn’t.

Back to missed foul shots. It started at the 2:24 when Alex Ruoff missed a foul shot that would’ve took the Mountie lead to 4. Then as time was winding down Joe Alexander was hit on the elbow and still made the shot. He couldn’t handle the pressure and missed. On to overtime we go.

Da’Sean Butler, who stepped up big tonight with 16 points and 7 rebounds, made a lay-up off the rebound and made the AND 1 foul shot. On Xavier’s next possession Duncan, still with 4, took it to Alexander and got him to foul-out. Alexander with 18 points and 10 rebounds had to sit on the bench. Ruoff made a nice lay-up to take a 71-65 lead but Xavier went full speed court to court and made the uncontested lay-up.

Then came the missed foul shots again. Wellington Smith missed both. Xavier makes a basket. Mazzulla makes 1 of 2. Xavier’s makes a three-pointer to tie it. After Mazzulla’s lay-up Raymond takes over when he hit a three on a wing then with 2 on the shot clock Smith failed to switch and that left Raymond wide open for the dagger.

While it’s great that the Eers in the past four seasons have made an Elite Eight appearance, two Sweet 16 appearances, and an NIT Championship Coach Huggs goal when he came home was to bring an NCAA Championship. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen this year. With an upcoming class of Kevin Jones, Truck Bryant, Roscoe Davis, and either Ater Majok or Devin Ebanks, the future is looking bright. It was a great season, which sadly could’ve been better. Coach Huggs always said we can never be too satisfied with our current success and tonight…he proved it.