CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Best Virginia accomplished much of what it set out to do over the first three quarters of Friday’s contest against DuBois Dream in the opening round of The Basketball Tournament.
Not so much in the fourth quarter, but by scoring the final seven points during the Elam Ending, Best Virginia avoided what would have been disaster and moved on with a 72-69 victory after entering the final frame with a 17-point lead.
“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.”
Best Virginia led 62-45 to start the fourth, but wound up making only one bucket and scoring two points, while turning over six times in the abbreviated period.
The effectiveness of the DuBois Dream press increased as the game progressed, and the DD offense came to life late as they ran off the first 12 points of the fourth and pulled to within five on a three-pointer from former West Liberty All-American Dalton Bolon.
James Reese made a shot in the paint more than 4 minutes into the fourth for BV’s only points of the frame.
But following another Bolon triple, DuBois Dream was to within 64-60 to start the Elam Ending, which required the winning team to reach 72 points.
The offensive struggles continued for Best Virginia at the start of the Elam Ending, and after a Shane Hunter dunk, Bolon made two free throws to tie the game at 64. When Hunter made 1-of-2 free throws moments later, DuBois Dream had its first lead since 5-3, and it would grow to 69-65 not long after on a Hunter dunk.
At that point, Best Virginia dug in, getting three points on one possession off a Kedrian Johnson free throw and Tre Mitchell layup.
Following a DuBois Dream turnover, Mitchell converted from close range off a Toby Okani assist to give BV a one-point lead.
Still, DD was within three points of advancing and elected to try for it on one shot, but Ryker Cisarik misfired on what would’ve been a winning triple.
On the other end, Okani was fouled attacking the basket, and following a lengthy delay for an injury, the swingman who recently wrapped up a five-year college basketball career with a free-throw percentage of 57.3 stepped to the line and calmly converted a pair to seal the outcome.
“We were talking about how we were going to defend the next play and I said he’s going to make these two free throws,” West said. “To his credit, he stepped up and did.”
Best Virginia led 14-12 through one quarter and took control during the second by outscoring DD, 25-13.
After leading BV with five first-quarter points, Reese poured in 11 during the second, including three of his team’s four triples in the quarter.
“I’m a defensive guy,” Reese said. “I think about going in and setting the tone defensively and everything else follows with that.”
Reese’s 16 first-half points helped stake Best Virginia to a 39-25 halftime lead, as did the team’s defense, which limited DD to 10-for-36 shooting through two quarters.
Isaiah Sanders, a former Fairmont State standout and late addition to Best Virginia’s roster, made all three of his field-goal attempts during a six-point third that helped up DuBois Dream’s deficit from 14 to 17.
But DuBois Dream, a team with plenty of West Liberty flavor coached by new Hilltoppers’ head coach Michael Lamberti, hardly wavered and outscored BV 15-2 during the fourth quarter to make it a tight finish.
“Living here, seeing the MEC and West Liberty, they’re not going to give up or stop,” West said. “We had it up 17 and 17 to them is nothing.”
Reese, who played collegiately at Buffalo, North Texas and South Carolina, poured in a game-high 21 points. Mitchell followed with 13, Johnson scored 10 and Okani chipped in with nine points and a game-best 11 boards off the bench, helping Best Virginia win the board battle, 51-38.
“It’s easy to play with guys that come from the same DNA as me — play hard, be a dog and find a way,” Reese said. “That’s kind of how my career was and everybody that’s been part of the WV basketball team. The program is blue collar.”
Christian Montague led DuBois Dream with 17 points, Cisarik scored 16 and Bolon added 14, all but two of which came after halftime.
Lanyc Shuler registered a game-high five steals in defeat as DuBois Dream forced 25 turnovers and committed 17.
With the result, Best Virginia has won at least one game all six years its been a TBT participant and advances to face Marshall’s alumni-based team, Herd That, at 5 p.m. Sunday.