Sherman

All seemed ready for the Mountaineers to dispatch the COVID-bothered Kansas State Wildcats last Saturday.

And then the Big 12 game started. Pre-game appearances had been deceptive and just plain wrong in what was destined to be a 71-68 Mountaineer win Kansas State, bombing in three-pointers with regularity, quickly assumed an 18-4 lead that ballooned to 17 points before all of the crowd had even found their seats.

The Mountaineers had appeared to be strangely disinterested, so lethargic was their overall play.

The Wildcat lead was only just shy of its largest margin at 42-27.

Johnson

At the halftime break, the court was livened by a troupe named Mutts Gone Nuts and leading border collie, Rocky, who jumped a rope in Double Dutch fashion and chased sailing frisbees like a whirling dervish.

Out of their dressing room came the Mountaineers. They needed to be lively and doing much better against the three-point firing of the Wildcat backcourt.

The crowd was ready to help fuel any comeback it might get to see.

In just the first few minutes of the second half, the Kansas State lead was calmed to 42-37.

Sean McNeil was finding his range on his own three-pointers. Sherman and point guard Kedrian Johnson were following McNeil’s lead and helping the Mountaineers advance on the Wildcats.

Osabuohien

Outscoring the faltering visitors, 19-4, during one particularly loud stretch of the half, the Mountaineers took a six-point lead. Kansas State managed just nine points in the first 12 minutes of the half.

But the Wildcats would not go quietly. They cut away six- and five-point WVU leads and mostly remained within two or three points of the McNeil-led Mountaineers.

With only one minute remaining, West Virginia had a tenuous three-point lead,

Numerous fouls bit the Wildcats in the final minute and the tri-scoring antics of McNeil, Sherman and Johnson converted all seven of their much-needed free throws as the clock slowly melted away.

It was a three-point game with about four seconds left. A pressured, on-the-run shot from about 24-feet by Wildcat guard Nijel Pack was short as the final horn sounded Kansas State’s close-but-no-cigar finish.

McNeil

The singing of the National Anthem, the Mutts Gone Nuts show and a return to the stuttering Big 12 schedule were not the afternoon’s highlights after all.

The 16-for-32 field goal shooting in the second half by the rising Mountaineers, as well a more confining defense led by Gabe Osabuohien’s 12 rebounds and McNeil’s 26 points all shown a little brighter.