Incredible Comeback Lifts Jackets to Victory - West Virginia State University Athletics

West Virginia State University Athletics

    About 10 minutes into Wednesday night's basketball game it looked like West Virginia State's chances of defeating visiting Notre Dame were slim and none .... and Slim was leaving town.

    But Slim turned around and the Yellow Jackets turned around what looked like a sure loss into an exciting 108-106 victory with senior froward Pat Johnson-Agwu turning in a superstar performance with 41 points including 25 in the final 17:49.

    "It looked like two different teams tonight," WVSU Head Coach Bryan Poore said. "We started with no energy or emotion and finished with everyone totally excited."

    Even the most dedicated West Virginia State basketball fans would have been forgiven if they considered leaving early Wednesday night to try and get home before the temperature dropped any more outside.

   After all the Yellow Jackets were getting thoroughly thumped by a good Notre Dame College squad (13-6, 9-4 in MEC).

    They would have missed very possibly the biggest comeback in WVSU basketball history.

    The Falcons jumped out to a quick 29-6 lead and stretched the margin to 27 points twice in the first half before settling into a 58-42 lead at halftime.

    It was not that the Yellow Jackets were playing that bad but the visitors were just that good and the WVSU players seemed to be just going through the motions as Poore pointed out.

   The Falcons hit 15 of their first 20 shots and ended up hitting 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half.

    Meanwhile WVSU (10-9, 7-6) was quietly hitting 51.6 percent.

     Notre Dame pretty much maintained that pace finishing at 58.6 from the floor but the Yellow Jackets kept getting hotter and hotter, led by Johnson-Agwu, and ended up sinking 57.6 from the floor, 62.9 in the second half.

    Garret McCarty hit one of his four 3-pointers with 5:46 to play to tie the score at 92-92.

    "To come back from that kind of deficit to that good of a team is huge," Poore said. "Hopefully we can keep building and continue to get better."

    WVSU has now won five of its last six games.

     The Yellow Jackets took their first lead at 102-101 Wednesday with 1:39 to go on a driving layup from the right side by Johnson-Agwu that was originally waived off with one official calling Johnson-Agwu for a charge. But the bucket was allowed to stand when another official came in and said that the defender did not have the proper position under the bucket.

    Making matters worse for the Falcons was their leading scorer, Will Vorhees with 32, got the foul instead and it was his fifth sending him to the bench.

    Notre Dame committed a shot clock violation on its next possession after thinking a shot had hit the rim and the Falcons were forced to foul the rest of the way with WVSU players converting enough to hold on to the win.

    McCarty finished with 13 points and was four-for-four from 3-point range. Jeremiah Moore added 20 points and eight rebounds, and Isaiah Noel 10 points.

    The Yellow Jackets play at Urbana Saturday at 4 p.m. in the next contest.

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