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A Picture Perfect Comeback (No. 17 West Virginia at TCU; 02.22.20)

Ross James/ALOST

akoiki-passport2 – by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — It may have taken five extra minutes for confirmation, but TCU forward Kevin Samuel ended up having the perfect night in helping the Horned Frogs come away with one of their more impressive wins of their season.

Samuel scored 19 points, hitting all seven of his field goal attempts, and added key free throws in overtime in sealing TCU’s 67-60 victory over No. 17 West Virginia at Schollmaier Arena on Saturday afternoon. Samuel also contributed on the defensive end with five blocks, and guard RJ Nembhard also scored in double figures with 16 points.

The Horned Frogs forced overtime only after coming back from a 10-point first half deficit, as the Frogs closed to within 31-29 at halftime before exploding for an 11-2 run to start the second half that was capped by a Nembhard three to give TCU its biggest lead at 40-33 with 15:38 remaining.

The Mountaineers chipped away the Horned Frogs’ lead for the rest of the half, with a Derek Culver layup finally giving West Virginia a lead again at 54-53 with 1:52 left. Two free throws from Samuel and a free throw by Mountaineers center Oscar Tshiebwe knotted the game at 55, and errant potential game-winning shots from both teams eventually led to an extra session.

Jaire Gray’s three-pointer in the Horned Frogs’ first possession of the overtime gave TCU the lead for good, and Samuel scored six of his 19 in the extra session, with his layup off an offensive rebound giving the Frogs a 65-60 lead with under 30 seconds remaining.

Culver led the Mountaineers off the bench with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Taz Sherman added 16. After starting Big 12 play at 6-3, the Mountaineers have lost four of its last five.

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with all photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 27 pictures in total.

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Tags : Big 12 ConferenceTCU Horned FrogsWest Virginia Mountaineers

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