Miraculously, Utes Withstand Mountaineers

West Regional

Jarrod West couldn’t come up with another miracle for West Virginia, and this time, he even had three chances.

Michael Doleac made two free throws with 6.5 seconds left and West missed a 3-pointer as time expired as Utah held off the Mountaineers 65-62 in the West Regional semifinals Thursday night.

“I had good looks at them, they just didn’t fall down for me,” said a tearful West, whose final 3-point try would have forced overtime.

“I thought he made it,” Doleac said. “It hit the front rim. Thank God, the clock ran out. Their pressure gets to you.”

Andre Miller, guarding West on the final play, said his main concern was to not commit a foul.

“If he makes it, it’s OK,” Miller said. “If it did go into overtime, we probably would have won.”

Utah, seeded third, faces top-seeded Arizona on Saturday with a spot in the Final Four at stake.

“I hope we’ve got a couple cards left in the deck to play,” Utah coach Rick Majerus said. “We got a bounce here or there.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am. I’m emotionally drained. I told the kids to enjoy it.”

Even the presence of Jerry West, the most famous West Virginia alumnus of them all, couldn’t help the 10th-seeded Mountaineers record another upset.

Jarrod West’s 3-point bank shot in the final second last Saturday gave the Mountaineers a 75-74 victory over second-seeded Cincinnati.

Doleac had 25 points and nine rebounds and Miller had 14 points and eight assists for the Utes (28-3), who won despite not scoring a field goal in the final 9:05.

Brent Solheim led West Virginia (24-9) with 16 points and seven rebounds.

West Virginia hadn’t won as many as two NCAA Tournament games between 1959 and this year.