Best shots from Virginia by Brotherly Love, 94-69

PITTSBURGH — Chase Harler insisted that the foundation of Best Virginia should be the team’s defensive play.

In Saturday’s first-round basketball tournament clash against No. 6 seed Brotherly Love, Harler noted that the team, made up of West Virginia graduates, also has plenty of potential on offense.

Best Virginia scored the first 11 points of the game and extended its lead to 22 going into the second quarter before cruising to a comfortable 94-69 victory at the Petersen Events Center.

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

Because of this result, Best Virginia, a No. 3 seed, will face the winner of Zoo Crew and Million $ Worth of Game in the second round. The two teams will battle it out Saturday night for a place in the regional finals.

Virginia’s top forward, Esa Ahmad, scored the first five points in his TBT debut, and after a three-pointer from freshman Marcus Keene, Devin Williams converted a conventional three-point play 2:05 into the game to take an 11-0 lead.

Keene scored two more three-pointers shortly after, giving BV a 22-8 lead before Xavier Bledson, the team’s only other player without a WVU connection, scored a three-pointer to make it 27-11.

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

Jonathan Holton’s three-pointer and another from Bledson rounded off the sixth period, which Best Virginia finished with 13 of 22 shots. Brotherly Love, meanwhile, had five field goals and six turnovers in the first ten minutes.

“We have eight guys who are used to playing that defense,” Ahmad said of the continent of former WVU players. “Keene and X (Bledson) are also professionals, so they caught on pretty quickly and we won the title.”

Midway through the second quarter, the team took a 45-17 lead on a jump shot from Teyvon Myers before Brotherly Love put together a strong performance in the second half of the quarter to cut the deficit to 50-33.

All of Virginia’s top 10 players scored in two quarters, with Keene and Ahmad each scoring nine points.

“Our mindset before the game was to stay in gaps and live with contested jump shots,” Harler said. “We wanted to land the first punch defensively and living with contested jump shots worked. They got better as the game went on.”

“Good defensive teams play with effort. There will be mistakes, but it’s great when the guys are flying around and playing with maximum effort.”

Keene’s conventional three-point play in the third quarter, right after his confrontation with Brotherly Love’s Bijan Johnson, put the team up 56-35 and was the start of another strong stretch that also featured a three-pointer from Bledson and Sagaba Konate’s dunk after one of Myers’ 13 assists (a game-high), making the score 64-38 at halftime in the third quarter.

Best Virginia led 85-56 before the Elam Ending, and although it took several tries to secure the win, it came when Holton scored on Myers’ 13th assist – the second-highest score in a game 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 win, while Ahmad Keene and Bledson each contributed 12 points.

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

“We got into the penalty area so often and had free shots,” said Harler. “I hope to do the same on Monday.”

Holton scored nine and Taz Sherman added eight for a BV team in which all ten players scored at least five points.

Sam Akano led Brotherly Love, which fielded only seven players, with 19 points, the highest score of the game. Langston Wilson added another 16 points in the loss.

Williams grabbed eight rebounds, helping Best Virginia to a 44-30 win in the rebounding battle.