University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
6-0
West Virginia
4-1
No. 7 Tennessee Holds Off West Virginia 79-78
December 02, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Coach Green's Postgame Comments Philips Player of the GameMORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Terrence Woods hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and No. 7 Tennessee rallied from 10 points down in the second half to beat West Virginia 79-78 on Saturday.
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| Terrence Woods' three-pointer with 32 seconds left gave Tennessee the lead for good in the Vols' 79-78 win at West Virginia. |
The Volunteers had missed three consecutive 3-pointers in the final 2 1/2 minutes, all of which would have given them the lead, before Woods connected to give Tennessee (6-0) only its third lead of the second half.
Tim Lyles then missed an off-balance shot from the lane and Calvin Bowman couldn't hit a followup with six seconds left before Tennessee's Ron Slay and West Virginia's Lionel Armstead each hit two free throws in the closing seconds.
West Virginia (4-1) couldn't steal the inbounds pass following Armstead's free throws with 1.3 seconds remaining, and Tennessee managed to slip out of Morgantown with by far the toughest of its six victories. The Vols had an average winning margin of 23.4 points in their first five games.
The Volunteers, who routed the Mountaineers by 40 points last season in Knoxville, trailed 51-41 early in the second half before rallying behind excellent foul shooting and West Virginia's sudden inability to convert at the line.
Tennessee was 16-of-19 at the line in the second half to 8-of-16 for West Virginia, which had twice surged to first-half leads of 10 points behind 13-of-15 foul shooting and a strong effort from a normally unproductive bench.
Brooks Berry led five West Virginia double-figure scorers with 16 points, 11 in the second half, and Bowman had 15. Lyles and Chris Moss fouled out and two more Mountaineers had four fouls as the game ended.
Tennessee finally regained the lead when Yarbrough, who had a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds, scored on a layup to close a 12-3 run and put the Vols up 68-66 - their first lead since midway in the first half.
The teams then exchanged the lead five times, with West Virginia leading last at 76-74 on Bowman's two free throws, before Woods put Tennessee ahead to stay with his 3-pointer. The Vols were only 6-of-30 from 3-point range.
