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  • No. 4 Texas Pulls Off the Comeback at No. 14 West Virginia to Win, 72-70

No. 4 Texas Pulls Off the Comeback at No. 14 West Virginia to Win, 72-70

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Basketball

Junior guard Andrew Jones buried a three-pointer from the right corner with 1.8 seconds left to lift No. 4/4 Texas (10-1, 4-0 Big 12) to a come-from-behind 72-70 victory at No. 14/16 West Virginia (9-4, 2-3 Big 12) on Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum. Jones, who earlier in the game became the 39th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point milestone, posted 16 points while converting 4-of-7 threes.

Junior guard Courtney Ramey registered a game-high 19 points, five rebounds and a team-best six assists, including the pass on the game-winning basket by Jones. Freshman forward Greg Brown recorded a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. Senior guard Matt Coleman III tallied 13 points, and sophomore forward Kai Jones added 10 points and four boards.

Texas jumped out to a 13-8 advantage after a Ramey layup at the 16:05 mark. The Mountaineers used a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to build an 18-13 cushion with 13:13 remaining.

An Andrew Jones three-pointer gave the Longhorns a 19-18 lead at the 11:52 mark, and that would be the final advantage of the game for Texas until Jones' heroics later in the final seconds. West Virginia converted 50-percent (14-28) from the floor, including a 6-of-13 (.462) mark from three-point range, while claiming a 40-36 halftime lead.

The Mountaineers increased their margin to as much as nine points (54-45) following three free throws from Sean McNeil with 13:49 left. Trailing 57-49 after a Miles McBride three-pointer at the 11:02 mark, the Longhorns scored eight consecutive points to tie the score at 57-57 with 8:37 remaining.

Down 70-65 following a Taz Sherman jumper at the 1:41 mark, Coleman hit a pair of free throws and Ramey converted a driving layup to pull Texas within 70-69 with 55 seconds left. Emmitt Matthews Jr. missed a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining, leaving the door open for Ramey to penetrate into the lane and find Andrew Jones for the game-winner.

Texas returns to action when it hosts No. 18/19 Texas Tech on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Tip is set for 8 p.m. CT at the Frank Erwin Center, and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.