MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia, a team that had made 340 3-pointers coming into Tuesday’s NIT quarterfinal game, got off to a slow start from behind the arc. But it didn’t last in a 71-66 NIT quarterfinals victory against N.C. State on Tuesday night at WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers warmed up in the second half, making eight shots beyond the arc to earn their 25th win of the season and a trip to the NIT semifinals next week in New York City.
“All of a sudden they just started hitting lucky stuff, off the back board, just started hitting threes from everywhere,” sophomore forward Brandon Costner said. “And that’s tough to play a team when they’re getting three [and] you’re getting two.”
Junior forward Gavin Grant, who missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left that would have tied the game at 69-69, echoed that assessment, but said the team also hurt itself with its play at the end of the game.
“They just made big shots and crazy shots,” Grant said. “And we made some bad plays down the stretch.”
The Wolfpack showed some 3-point prowess of its own, making nine for the game. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough to overcome the outside shooting of Frank Young and the Mountaineers, especially three 3-point baskets in an 87-second span — two of them by Young — to erase a 62-58 deficit and give WVU a 67-65 lead with 2:09 left.
Young hit the first two threes in that span — the first banking off the backboard and into the basket to energize the crowd of 11,215 — and Costner said they were some of the shots that hurt State’s chances the most.
“We felt like we had just started getting in a groove,” Costner said. “And when he hit those shots and [took] the momentum right back, that was really a backbreaker.”
Young put up 25 points, including six 3-pointers, and he is a senior who will get to continue his career. But State senior point guard Engin Atsur won’t get another chance to suit up for the Pack, despite putting up 14 points — 12 coming on 3-pointers — in his final collegiate game.
Even so, Atsur said he wasn’t upset he didn’t get to take the last shot.
“I don’t care who gets the last shot. It was 10 seconds, and you can’t always pick who’s going to shoot, especially when you need a three,” Atsur said. “They [the defense] switch everything.”
He added the loss can’t take away from the team’s success this season.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Atsur said. “We had a good season.”
Ultimately, Lowe said, the game came down to West Virginia doing what it does best.
“They step up,” Lowe said. “They make shots.”
