By Harry Barsan

The Louisville Cardinals skip past the West Virginia Mountaineers in an overtime thriller.

Slugfest

Both teams started this game off very slow. Louisville fell behind early, missing their first eight shots before a Terrence Edwards Jr. layup finally got them on the board.

It took until there was just under 10 minutes for either team to reach 10 points, when a Chucky Hepburn dunk led the Cardinals to a 10-8 lead. During this time, there was a combined five minutes where neither team hit shot from the field or the free throw line.

Eventually the teams would exchange buckets for a little until the Mountaineers finally found a groove and went on a 15-3 tear, including nine from their star Javon Small, to make it 15-25.

With their backs against the wall in the final two minutes of the half, the Cards clapped back with a 9-3 run of their own, featuring four-straight points from Kasean Pryor to end the half.

They clawed back, but were still behind 24-28 at the half.

The Cards left much to be desired in the first. Six different Cardinals turned the ball over, combining for 10 total. Additionally, they shot a disappointing 3-for-15 from three-point range and only made 3-of-8 free throws.

Combined with the slow start early in their many miscues, the Cards were fortunate to still be in the game at all.

A game of runs

In the second, the Cards missed three-straight shots and gave up two fouls before sinking their first shot, a jumper and an and-one layup by Chucky Hepburn to make it a 29-33 advantage for the Mountaineers.

The Cardinals then went off and made eight of their next nine baskets, claiming their first lead since midway through the first half to go up 54-50 with seven minutes left.

They then got to the line and rattled off five free throws, including four from Hepburn, to make it 59-52 with just over four minutes to go. That party was ruined by a 8-0 tear from the Mountaineers to reclaim a one-point lead late.

An Edwards Jr. jumper gave the Cards the lead, but WVU’s Javon Small matched that with a bucket of his own to make it 61-62.

With the ball in their hands, Hepburn drew yet another foul and went to the line for two shots. Shooting perfectly from the line thus far, he sank the first to tie the game, however, his crucial second shot missed and the Mountaineers got the board.

In an attempt to stall the game for the last shot, the Mountaineers spent a little too much time waiting to get into their offense and they gave it up on a shot clock violation. With just over a second remaining, the Cards chucked it up to Pryor for a chance to take it in regulation, but he turned it over.

The game would go to overtime tied 62-62.

Five more minutes

Reyne Smith opened OT with a three, his fourth of the game. However, as J’Vonne Hadley fouled out, West Virginia pulled in closer and traded buckets until it was 67-67.

Hepburn then got an and-one on a layup before Pryor made a basket of his own to make it 72-69.

With the Mountaineers running out of time, the Cards sank seven-straight key free throws from Hepburn and Edwards Jr.

The Cardinals won 79-70 in an instant classic.

Hepburn’s Oscar-worthy performance

Hepburn scored a career-high 32 points, including 27 in the second and OT combined. He shot a dazzling 14-for-17 from the line and tacked on an additional six steals.

Pryor’s and Edwards Jr.’s 13 and 10 points carried much of the rest of the weight, while Smith’s 15 off the bench paid great dividends in providing a spark that the Mountaineers didn’t have.

The Cardinals forced the Mountaineers to make mistakes all around. They drew a season high 29 fouls from WVU, causing two of their starters to foul out including one of their stars Tucker DeVries. DeVries foul trouble directly correlates to their ability to key in on Small defensively and limit WVU’s offense down the stretch.

Louisville also out-rebounded West Virginia 41-34, winning on both sides of the ball.

At 5-1, the Cards will now take on the winners of Oklahoma and Arizona in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship. This is their third time appearing in the championship game in their three appearances in the tournament.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics