By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — If Georgetown Coach John Thompson III woke up this morning feeling like he’d been hit by a truck, he had.
A Truck named Bryant, that is.
On a night dripping in emotion over the final Coliseum game of seniors Da’Sean Butler, Wellington Smith and even seldom used walk-on Cam Payne, it was Bryant who made like a runaway Toyota as the West Virginia Mountaineers clinched a double bye in the Big East Tournament with a 81-68 victory before 13,211 fans.
Oh, Butler was the centerpiece from the moment he walked down the carpet for the final time with his mother and father, holding back the tears as he received a framed No. 1 uniform and a warm hug from the man they call Hugs, until he left the game to a standing ovation with 30.1 seconds left.
Mired in a shooting slump entering the game, Butler broke out with a 7 for 16 shooting night including a couple of 3s and six free throws, six rebounds and six assists in a 22-point performance.
From the moment he took the weight of the world off his shoulders when he hit an early 3, it was obvious he would not be close to a repeat of Alex Ruoff’s Senior Day shutout from a year ago.
And, at the end, when a 27-point lead had melted away to nine points, Butler was there to save the day.
With it 62-53, Butler hit a pair of free throws, grabbed a rebound, hit a layup, made a nifty pass inside to Kevin Jones for an assist and made another nifty pass to John Flowers for an assist. He had a hand in eight straight West Virginia points.
In effect, that short-circuited the Hoya comeback, but the truth of the matter is this game was won long before then.
It was won as soon as the Mountaineers turned the ignition on in the Truck.
“The big thing was the easy baskets we had early and we haven’t gotten a lot of easy baskets this year. Truck was so much better; the key to the game was Truck,” said Coach Bob Huggins. “Truck ran the offense so much better for us today than what he has been doing.”
Huggins had lamented the lack of a transition game on occasion his year and the fans who converse on the Internet let it be known that they had noticed it was lacking.
“We heard about it a lot,” Bryant admitted.
Huggins, in scouting Georgetown, noted that they did not get back well on defense and decided he wanted to push the ball down the court as often and as fast as possible. To do that, of course, you need defensive stops, missed baskets or even more preferably turnovers.
And oh did West Virginia get turnovers.
By halftime, Georgetown had committed 12 turnovers to just two for the Mountaineers and WVU had turned those 12 turnovers into 14 points, most of them coming as Bryant ignited fast breaks in building the lead to 43-26.
Bryant wound up with 11 points, seven of eight from the free throw line, and four assists.
“That’s how I count my pennies,” Bryant said, speaking of the free throws. “Free throws are free.”
And WVU wound up making 27 of them before the night was over to 14 for Georgetown, a sign of their early aggression and of Georgetown’s attempt to get back into the game late by fouling.
Not to beep Truck’s horn, but when the final tally was in, WVU had scored 24 points off turnovers, much of the result of his doing and Butler’s heroics.
Tear free before the game, Butler broke his vow not to cry, at least after the game during his post-game interview, tears rolling down his cheeks as he said “I know I am going to miss this place, this team and the best teammates anyone could have.”
He will be missed here, too, exiting as the No. 3 all-time scorer in school history behind Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley, a fact of which he was very aware.
“I look at the history here,” he admitted. “I have ever since I was a freshman. P.G. Greene was here about four weeks ago and he said, ‘You passed me in scoring.’ I just said, ‘Sorry, Dude.’”
“He’s a heckuva basketball player,” Huggins said of Butler, “but he’s also one of the best people ever to play here.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
