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WVU holds off Buffaloes, 78-70

MORGANTOWN — On its first visit to Colorado in any sport, West Virginia found Boulder to be a lovely place to visit.

For skiing, not basketball.

If you think you get a thrill on a downhill run, it’s nothing compared to how No. 21 WVU (12-3, 3-1) had to fight to survive the Colorado Buffaloes on their home court to score a 78-70 victory.

After a smooth first half which was more like riding the ski lift to the top, the second half turned into going down and ice slick mountain trail with trees and — well, boulders — showing up at every turn in your path, some of them presented a game Colorado team and a whole lot more of them who were connected to Kipp Kissinger’s officiating team.

They gave Colorado, a team that took only two free throws in the first half, 28 of them in the second half, making 24. It would have been fine, had they called the game the same way on the other side but what was a foul in the Colorado halfcourt was a no call on the WVU side.

The result was a 14-point lead early in the second half of a game the Mountaineers trailed only 2-0, got down to two points late before Colorado absolutely had to foul to try and stay in, evening things up on paper, but not in the minds of those in the crowd of 6,975 who saw it.

The small crowd can be explained away as the game was opposite the Denver Broncos playing the Buffalo Bills in the NFL wild card game … And faring no better than the university against WVU.

There was a surprise hero for WVU in the person of reserve Joe Yesufu, who came to the rescue in the second half by scoring 13 of his season high 18 points, most of them on crucial shots down the stretch on difficult drives as Buffalo set its heart and soul on trying to keep Javon Small from beating them.

But the Big 12’s leading scorer just doesn’t let people stop him. Was he harried? Yes. But when you added it all up he had 26 points, seven assists with just one turnover in 38 grueling minutes at an altitude of 5,345 feet.

Included in that was one spell in the second half as Colorado was eating away at the lead when he kept the Mountaineers in front with three consecutive 3-point daggers then hit 5 of 6 free throws at crunch time to secure the win, almost as a baseball closer puts a game away.

In this one, though, it was Yesufu who would have been named the winning pitcher.

“Joe had a huge second half for us,” coach Darian DeVries said. “He has done a great job of keeping himself ready when needed.”

Playing at Washington State last season after transferring there from Kansas, Yesufu was in only six games before his season ended with injury, which saved this season for him to transfer to WVU.

DeVries had told him his role coming in but he couldn’t have been thrilled with his playing time because Small had become such a fixture. However, with swingman Tucker DeVries out with a shoulder injury and freshman guard KJ Tenner down with an injury, playing time has been available and he has taken that giant stride forward.

“A strange game,” DeVries said of it. “But I told them, I don’t care how you get it done, just so long as you get it done.”

And it took all of them here, with big man Eduardo Andre following up an off game against Arizona in last week’s loss with 5 for 5 shooting for 14 points with four rebounds and four steals before fouling out.

“He had two big steals at vital times that got us four points,” DeVries noted.

And there was Toby Okani, who grabbed off a late-game offensive rebound on a missed free throw that led to a basket that made it a three possession game.

“That’s a winning play,” DeVries said. “Like I tell them, you never know when that winning play will come along and change the game.”

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