Following an upset victory for Penn State’s alumni, WVU’s alumni team Best Virginia are looking to do the same against the university’s age-old rivals.
Best Virginia faces Pitt’s alumni team Zoo Crew for the second of two games on Monday in Pittsburgh. The winner will return to the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday to take on Penn State’s Happy Valley Hoopers in the region final to advance to The Basketball Tournament’s quarterfinal round.
Starters for Best Virginia were Marcus Keene, Wesley Harris, Tarik Phillip, Esa Ahmad, and Devin Williams.
Zoo Crew’s starting lineup included Nelly Cummings, Jamel Artis, Mike Young, Nike Sibande, and Dustin Sleva.
Quarter 1
Zoo Crew wins the tip, but Best Virginia earns the first points, as Wesley Harris scores inside off the offensive rebound.
Nike Sibande picks up where he left off from Saturday’s game against Million $ Worth of Money, knocking down a three for Zoo Crew’s first points. Marcus Keene counters with a mid-ranger, and Wesley Harris sends a message with a fierce block down low. Best Virginia leads 6-3 after two Harris free throws.
Jamel Artis and Esa Ahmad trade threes, as do Cummings and Harris, as Harris fills the stat sheet early. Harris has seven points, a block, a steal, a rebound, and an assist to Esa Ahmad, who puts Best Virginia up 15-11.
Sleva hits a three from the top of the key to match Ahmad, as Harris gets inside for another two. Mike Young scores a three, which Ahmad counters with another a layup. Best Virginia leads 19-17 at the media timeout.
Sagaba Konate bullies inside for his first points of the game, but Ryan Luther’s comes on the next possession in the form of a three. He makes another to take the 23-21 Zoo Crew lead.
Teyvon Myers gets on the board to tie the game, but Sibande draws contact driving in off the right side and hits both free throws. Luther draws a foul and makes both free throws as well to extend the lead.
Konate gets the final two points of the quarter, catching Myers’ miss above the rim and slamming it down with authority with the right hand. Konate is 2-for-2.
Zoo Crew leads 27-25 at the quarter break.
Quarter 2
Konate catches Xavier Bledson’s missed three on the other side of the rim and puts it back in for his fifth and sixth points. Sibande matches it, and Konate is blocked for the first time in the night going the other way.
Artis makes two after Konate misses a three, and Sherman matches it. Sherman then draws contact on a made three for a four-point play to take a 33-31 Best Virginia lead.
Tarik Phillip makes his second of two attempts at the line, and Artis misses a three the other way to start a sequence of wasted possessions for both teams. Cummings makes a three, matched by Sherman, to end the short drought. Sherman has nine points and is 3-for-3 from the field.
Young makes two before a slew of substitutions for both teams. Best Virginia inbounds on its side twice after fouls on the floor, but an inbound pass gone awry leads to a Nike Sibande three to take the 39-37 Zoo Crew lead.
Sleva makes two at the line, and Phillip matches it with a basket inside the arc. Best Virginia and Zoo Crew make stops, but the former Mountaineers are next to score, as Phillip steps back for three and the one-point lead.
Cummings makes a three, but Ahmad cannot counter inside over four Zoo Crew defenders in the post. Mike Young draws a foul on the other end and makes both attempts at the line. Myers gets to the line but misses his first of three attempts for Best Virginia.
With under a minute left in the half, Nike Sibande grabs a steal on Jonathan Holton’s pass and makes the layup with contact for a three-point play. Marcus Keene comes up the other way and makes his way inside with the scoop layup to close the gap at the end of the half.
Zoo Crew leads Best Virginia 49-46 at halftime. Nike Sibande is leading the charge for the Panthers alumni with 14 points, two rebounds, an assist, two steals, and a block with 66 percent shooting from the field and beyond the arc.
Three Best Virginia players have three fouls at halftime, those being leading scorer Wesley Harris as well as Marcus Keene and Teyvon Myers.
Quarter 3
Mike Young makes two on the first possession of the half, and Sibande gets a steal to try to find him for another. Best Virginia gets the steal instead and Esa Ahmad scores. Ahmad has 10 points.
Devin Williams scores his first two points of the night, but Sibande matches it to keep a three-point Zoo Crew lead.
Zoo Crew’s lead grows to six after several scoreless possessions, as Sibande gets his third steal, which he passes out to Artis in the corner for the assist. Sibande fouls Williams, who makes one of two at the line.
Mike Young makes a long two, but Wesley Harris dunks over his defender with two-handed authority to keep the momentum thin. Best Virginia trails 58-53.
Williams makes another two for Best Virginia, and Sibande’s three is off the mark in efforts of countering it. Best Virginia has a scoring opportunity but wastes it, as Williams cannot grab Phillip’s pass.
Wesley Harris makes up for the wasted possession by driving inside in transition. Devin Williams draws a foul on a turn-around in the post with a chance to go up one after the media timeout.
Williams makes his second of two at the line, only tying the score at 58. Shippensburg alum Dustin Sleva makes two off the pass from Ryan Luther for Zoo Crew. Cummings tries to extend the lead with a deep three but is short.
Devin Williams gets a technical foul, giving Greg Elliott a free point from the line. Teyvon Myers’ foul before the technical stands, giving Cummings two attempts, both of which he makes. Zoo Crew leads by five.
Esa Ahmad gets his shot blocked into the side of the rim as Zoo Crew’s momentum grows. Patterson gets two on the other end, and Chase Harler is forced to call the timeout with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter.
6-foot-11 Drew Cisse blocks Konate’s shot at the rim, but Best Virginia regains possession. Phillip scores and gets fouled, giving him a three-point play. Best Virginia gets the steal and misses the first attempt but regains possession again. Konate goes for a three but is off the mark. Best Virginia trails 65-61 with under a minute remaining in the quarter.
Konate costs Best Virginia again after his explosive second quarter, fouling Mike Young, who makes the first of two at the line. Konate makes up for it by grabbing an offensive board and scoring off the glass, but Young matches it at the buzzer.
Zoo Crew leads 68-63 entering the fourth quarter.
Quarter 4
Sibande makes a three to start the fourth, which Phillip counters with a two. Sibande now has 19 points, and Phillip has 11.
Lamar Patterson comes the other way to score his first three of the night off the assist by Sibande. Keene creates his own shot to match it. Esa Ahmad makes two free throws at the line to come within four, but Cummings hits a three in the right corner before Young blocks Wesley Harris’s reverse layup. Zoo Crew has a seven point lead and all of the momentum.
Young makes one at the line, and Nelly Cummings makes his fourth three of the night to force a Best Virginia timeout.
Mike Young hops to fake out his defender and make a layup. Esa Ahmad and Marcus Keene combat the style points with a five-point turnaround on an Ahmad three and Keene layup off an inbound pass steal.
Zoo Crew leads 83-75 entering the elim ending. The target score is 91.
Elim Ending
Mike Young gets the first points of the untimed period with a turn-around fadeaway in the paint. He makes it a three-point play at the line.
Tarik Phillip gets to the basket quick, and Ahmad nearly scores but gets the late whistle on the stiff-arm. Zoo Crew regains possession, and Cummings is fouled hard at the rim by Keene. He makes one at the line to make the Pitt alumni four from its target score.
Phillip keeps shooting but cannot hit, and Harris fouls out as Sibande goes to the rim. Harris had 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal on the night. Sibande makes both at the line.
Keene matches the free throws, but Mike Young makes a post spin to win it all.
Zoo Crew beats Best Virginia 91-79 and will advance to the region final against the Happy Valley Hoopers.
Photo from The Basketball Tournament
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