PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Former Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn had 32 points to lead Louisville to a 79-70 overtime win over West Virginia and into the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game.
Louisville (5-1) will face the winner of the Arizona-Oklahoma semifinal at 3:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN. The Wildcats and Sooners are scheduled to play Thursday at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
It was the second straight overtime game for the Mountaineers (4-2), who lost standout forward Tucker DeVries to a foul out with 2:30 left in overtime. West Virginia starting forward Sensire Harris also fouled out, while backup guard Joseph Yesufu had four fouls in just five minutes.
Javon Small, who led West Virginia with 26 points, had a chance to initiate a winning basket with about 20 seconds left in regulation and the ball on the wing. But he burned time off the clock until only seven seconds remained, just six on the shot clock, and the Mountaineers were called for a shot-clock violation. The game went into after Louisville failed to get a shot off with just over a second left.
"I've just got to know the shot clock," Small said. "They were blitzing the ball screen all the time and I tried to make a play but turned it over."
The Mountaineers' loss meant there won't be an all-Big 12 final if the Wildcats win later Thursday, but the teams could meet in the third-place game if Oklahoma beats UA. In any case, the Mountaineers are scheduled to host Arizona on Jan. 7 in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Hepburn collected his 32 points while shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Louisville shot just 42.1 % from the field overall but out rebounded West Virginia 41-34 and scored 14 points off 16 Mountaineer turnovers.
"Chucky's performance was spectacular," Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said. "I've been doing this a long time. I've coached Chris Paul and several other NBA point guards, and that was one of the single most dominant performances on both ends of the floor by a point guard that I've ever seen standing on the sidelines as a coach.
"But not just Chucky. I just think all our guys dug down deep, guarded with everything we had, and just played really hard."
