West Virginia and Xavier lamented the final seconds of their close losses on Friday.
Both teams are hoping to avoid a 0-2 tournament showing Sunday afternoon when the Mountaineers face the Musketeers in the third-place game of the Charleston Classic’s Palmetto Bracket in Charleston, S.C.
West Virginia (5-1) took a 70-67 loss to Clemson on Friday after winning its first five games by an average of 18 points. The Mountaineers held an 11-point lead with 10:57 left and a nine-point lead with less than seven minutes left before they got outscored 20-8 the rest of the way, falling behind for good when they conceded a 3-pointer to Clemson’s Carter Welling with 2:13 left.
Honor Huff led West Virginia with 17 points, and Jasper Floyd added 14. The duo combined for 10-for-15 shooting but the Mountaineers shot 40.4% overall (23 of 57).
“To me, the difference was late in the game, they were able to get the ball where they wanted it, when they wanted it and they made the shots,” West Virginia coach Russ Hodge said. “We were a little discombobulated and had to settle for some tough shots and just didn’t execute at a high enough level to beat a good team on a neutral floor. It’s disappointing.”
Xavier (3-3) can also relate to West Virginia’s struggles at not closing out the game. The Musketeers took a 78-77 loss to Georgia on Friday night, allowing a game-winning 3-pointer to Marcus Millender with 10 seconds left. All Wright missed a fadeaway jumper with one second left.
“A lot of really, really good moments,” first-year Xavier coach Richard Pitino said. “Disappointed, certainly devastating, the kid (Millender) makes a tough 3. We make a play down the stretch, it doesn’t go our way.”
The last seconds spoiled a big comeback from the Musketeers. They allowed 57.6% shooting in the first half, trailed 53-41 at halftime and outscored Georgia 36-25 in the second half despite shooting 35.3% after halftime.
Tre Carroll and Jovan Milicevic scored 19 apiece while Wright finished with 17. Carroll and Milicevic were a combined 13-of-26 shooting, but Wright was 5 of 16 from the field, including 4 of 9 inside the 3-point line.
