University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
4-2
West Virginia
7-1
Vols Fall at West Virginia 65-62
December 21, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2002
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to defeat visiting Tennessee 65-62 Saturday.
Tennessee's Ron Slay grabbed a Mountaineer miss with 15 seconds remaining that led to two UT three-point misses by Slay and C.J. Watson to force overtime in the final seconds.
"The first half I thought we played as well as any half we've had all year," said Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson. "We were under control, poised, played good defense and limited our turnovers.
"The second half we were a totally different team," Peterson continued. "We just stopped being aggressive on the offensive end. Then when Ron (Slay) got his fourth foul, we didn't step it up offensively like we needed to."
Drew Schifino scored 28 points to lead the Mountaineers (7-1). Brandon Crump paced the Vols (4-2) with 14 points. Slay added 10 points, but missed much of second half due to foul problems.
Trailing 58-53, West Virginia went on a 10-2 run highlighted by two three-pointers by Kevin Pittsnogle. Pittsnogle's second trey during the run was a bank shot as the shot clock expired, giving the Mountaineers a 63-60 lead with 2:53 remaining.
Slay, who entered the game as the SEC's leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, picked up his fourth foul with 15:44 to go with the Vols leading 50-37. When he came back with 6:44 remaining, UT's lead was 57-51.
Tennessee, which trailed by as many as six points in the first half, went into halftime leading 43-30. Trailing 21-15 with 12:18 to go until the break, the Vols went on a 16-2 run to take command. UT's 43 first-half points were a season-high.
West Virginia handed Tennessee one of its four losses in the final seconds a year ago when Jonathan Hargett hit a three-pointer with 4.3 second remaining to give the Mountaineers a 74-72 win at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols return home Monday to host Western Carolina in a 7 p.m. (EST) tipoff at Thompson-Boling Arena.
