WVU SEASON COMES TO AN END IN ROUND ONE

March 20, 2009


Dayton, from the Atlantic 10, handed the Big East their lone lose in the opening round as the 11th seeded Flyers knocked out West Virginia, 68-60, on Friday afternoon.

Sophomore forward Chris Wright dominated WVU to the tune of 27 points and 10 rebounds while senior forward Charles Little added 18, both more than double their season averages.

“We didn't we didn't have an answer for penetration from Wright or Little,” said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. “And Little made some really hard shots at the end of the game. He made hard shots over the top of people.”

While Little made several back-breaking buckets late, the Mountaineers jut never got that big basket themselves. After Dayton stretched a 33-28 halftime lead to 48-40 with 13:27 to go, WVU quickly cut the lead to one at 48-47 with 11:02 remaining as Darryl Bryant capped a 7-0 run with a three-pointer. Over the course of the next 7:14 the spread between the two teams would never be more than four points, but the Mountaineers could never tie or take the lead, despite golden opportunities.

Down 54-52 with 6:56 remaining, Alex Ruoff, a senior and 80% free-thrown shooter, missed two from the foul line that could have tied the game. A few moments later, Da’Sean Butler had a good look for a three-pointer that would have put WVU ahead, but he could not connect.

“You got an 80 some percent free throw shooter (Ruoff) shooting two free throws and he misses both of them,” says Huggins as he recounted some of the missed opportunities. “And Da'Sean (Butler) is maybe our best 3-point shooter and he has a wide open look down by one. And you know, that one had a chance.”

While WVU could not connect on their chances, Dayton finally was able to put some separation between themselves and the Mountaineers on back-to-back buckets by Luttle, giving the Flyers a 65-58 lead in the last minute of play.

Freshmen led the way for WVU as Darryl Bryant had a team-high 21 points and Devin Ebanks scored 14 and grabbed 12 rebounds. Ruoff, the all-time leader in made three’s for WVU, finished with 9 points in his final collegiate contest before fouling out.

Junior Da’Sean Butler finished with 12 points, but was just 5-13 from the floor, missing all six of his three-point attempts and turned it over five times.

“We had a lot of chances to take the lead in the game,” said Butler following the game. “I had a bunch of opportunities to help the team go over the hump and be up by one or two, you know, but we just didn't do it and we lost.”

West Virginia finishes 23-12 in Bob Huggins’ second season at his alma mater.