Best Virginia strokes by Brotherly Love, 94-69

PITTSBURGH — Chase Harler was determined to make Best Virginia’s defense the team’s foundation.

During Saturday’s first-round basketball tournament against sixth-seeded Brotherly Love, Harler discovered that the West Virginia team is also very capable offensively.

Best Virginia scored the first 11 points of the game and extended their lead to 22 points by the second quarter before winning 94-69 at the Petersen Events Center.

“We have guys who can score and have no obligations,” Harler said. “Everyone brings something different.”

The result moves Best Virginia, a No. 3 seed, into the second round against the winner of Zoo Crew and Million $ Worth of Game, who will compete Saturday night for a spot in the regional finals.

Virginia’s top forward Esa Ahmad had the first five points in his TBT debut. After a three-pointer from newcomer Marcus Keene, Devin Williams connected on a conventional three-pointer to take an 11-0 lead with 2:05 to play.

Keene hit two more triples shortly after, giving BV a 22-8 lead. Then the only other player on the team without a WVU connection, Xavier Bledson, scored from beyond the three-point line, making it 27-11.

“I always expect to score the ball,” said the 29-year-old Keene, who averaged 30 points in his final season of college basketball at Central Michigan. “West Virginia brought me in, they know what I’m good at, and they gave me confidence. I got in there early and gave us a boost, and we were able to keep going from there.”

Three-pointers by Jonathan Holton and another by Bledson made it six in the period, which Best Virginia eventually finished with 13 of 22 points. Brotherly Love, meanwhile, had five field goals and six turnovers in the first 10 minutes.

“We have eight guys that are used to playing that defense,” Ahmad said of the continent of former WVU players. “Keene and X (Bledson) are pros too, so they picked it up pretty quick and we came up with the dub.”

The lead was 45-17 thanks to a jump shot from Teyvon Myers midway through the second quarter, before Brotherly Love made a strong run in the second half of that quarter to cut the deficit to 50-33.

All 10 of Virginia’s top players scored in the first two quarters, with Keene and Ahmad leading the way with nine goals.

“Our mindset going into the game was to get in the holes and live with contested jump shots,” Harler said. “We wanted to get the first crack at defense and live with contested jump shots worked. As the game went on, they got hotter.

“Good defensive teams play with effort. Mistakes are going to happen, but guys flying around and playing with maximum effort is great.”

Keene’s conventional three-pointer in the third quarter, right after his confrontation with Brotherly Love guard Bijan Johnson, made it 56-35. It was the start of a strong run that also included a game-high three-pointer by Bledson and a dunk by Sagaba Konate, with one of Myers’ 13 assists, that made it 64-38 midway through the third quarter.

Virginia led 85-56 going into the Elam Ending and while it took several tries to secure the win, it came when Holton scored on Myers’ 13th assist – the second-highest single-game total in TBT history and three more than Brotherly Love’s team total.

Wes Harris scored all but two of his team-high 15 points in the second half of the victory, while Ahmad Keene and Bledson each scored 12.

Bledson (4-for-6) and Keene (3-for-5) combined for 7 of the 13 triples.

“We got in the paint so much and had wide open shooters,” Harler said. “I hope to do that on Monday.”

Holton scored nine and Taz Sherman added eight for a BV team that saw all 10 players score at least five points.

Sam Akano led Brotherly Love, which had just seven players, with a game-high 19 points. Langston Wilson added 16 in the loss.

Williams had eight rebounds and helped Best Virginia win the rebounding battle 44-30.