MORGANTOWN — For 39 minutes and 58 seconds West Virginia held Virginia to just four offensive rebounds but with the game on the line they gave up two in the final two seconds and wasted a brave effort, losing 56-54, to the nation’s No. 24 team in the Fort Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off.

The game was physical and low-scoring, which is a trademark of Virginia and fits right into the style the Mountaineers have to play due to a lack of bodies, and they almost pulled it off.

After Jesse Edwards and Quinn Slazinski carried them through the first half, hanging around with just a three-point, 26-23, deficit even though those two had all but two of the team’s points, the second half looked as if it might be a rerun of the SMU victory over WVU on Monday when they blitzed the Mountaineers.

But after they fell behind by 10, WVU out of nowhere found the range from 3-point range.

They had made only one 3 until Kobe Johnson canned one with 11:40 left in the game. That seemed to lift the lid off the basket and 3 after 3 began swishing through for WVU, Seth Wilson hitting two in a row, Johnson another and then Slazinki dropping in a raindrop from outside at that point the game was tied at 45-45.

As the clock turned under two minutes, Wilson hit yet another 3 and WU was up 51-50.

Again, Virginia scratched out a 3-point lead and oddly it was on a 3 that didn’t go in for WVU that they drew even, Slazinski being fouled as he launched one.

He made the first two, then Virginia coach Tony Bennett called a timeout trying to freeze him even after he’d been handed the ball and that upset Slazinski, who had played with an edge and wound up part of a double technical after some pushing and talking to the other bench.

Eilert liked the competitive spirit but felt there were moments when WVU’s attitude cost itself down the stretch.

“At the end of the day we lacked discipline on a couple of possessions,” he said on his postgame radio show. “We’re talking too much. I like them talking to each other but we don’t need to be talking to the other team, to the other bench.

“I’m trying not to come down too hard on them because I want them to play with an edge, but that’s something we have to clean up.”

Slazinski went on to make the final free throw to tie the game at 54, but things came apart down the stretch. With 9 seconds left Ryan Dunn missed a 3, but Leon Bond got the rebound, giving the Cavaliers another chance.

Reece Beekman went to the hope, Slazinski fouled him with 2 seconds left. He made the first to break the tie but missed the second, but Dunn rebounded and was fouled. adding a last point.

WVU had lost by two, which could be termed a moral victory but Eilert would have none of that.

“We’re not into moral victories by any means,” Eilert said. “At the end of the night, you look at the turnovers (16 of them) and while we had passion down the stretch, we want to keep that in house. We have a small margin of error and I told them we have to be careful not to lose our heads.”

Before the game started, on his radio show, coach Josh Eilert indicated that the WVU was considering legal action but following the game made a point to say that WVU is no longer involved in the aftermath but that the Battle family might seek legal assistance in an effort to find a way to overturn the NCAA’s decision that RaeQuan Battle will not be eligible this year due to the two-transfer without graduating rule.

“RaeQuan and his family are going to explore all options,” Eilert said following the game, indicating they would look into action in court. “I believe we will go at them from a legal point and lawyer up.”

Eilert had more immediate things to worry about as his shorthanded Mountaineers were about to play No. 24 Virginia in the third-place game of the Fort Myers (Fla.) Tipoff. They got into this position when SMU ran them out of the gym in the second half, taking advantage of their shortened roster, while Wisconsin overwhelmed Virginia.

The pace, shall we say, fit both teams … meaning it was slow. Virginia always relies on its pack line defense and ball control and WVU with really only eight scholarship players and one of them not available needs to avoid an up and down game>

Virginia obliged and when Edwards scored the Mountaineers first basket 15:48 showed on the first half clock but little was lost for it was 2-2.

And so it went throughout the half, a strange mix of WVU rebounding, Virginia defending and the Mountaineers challenging that vaunted defense with just two players — Edwards and Slazinski.

In fact, after 20 minutes as they headed for the locker room with Virginia clinging to a 26-23 lead Only one basket by Pat Suemnick was added to Edwards’ 10 and Slazinski’s 11 points.

WVU grabbed 23 rebounds to 13 for Virginia which kept them going but that had to find a way to hang on to the ball, as Virginia recorded six steals by halftime as WVU suffered 10 turnovers.