Behind Amani Hansberry's double-double, WVU downs Cincinnati

Amani Hansberry scored 17 points and grabbed career-high 13 rebounds to help West Virginia rally past Cincinnati 62-59 on Wednesday in Morgantown, W.Va., a critical victory for the Mountaineers' at-large NCAA Tournament hopes.

In a battle of the 44th and 45th teams in the NCAA's NET Rankings, Hansberry notched the second double-double of his college career. The sophomore scored seven of his points during a 17-3 run over a six-minute span of the second half that helped the higher-ranked Mountaineers (16-10, 7-8 Big 12) snap a two-game skid.

Cincinnati (15-11, 5-10) trailed 62-53 with 34 seconds remaining, but Dan Skillings Jr. sank a pair of 3-pointers just three seconds apart to make it a one-score game.

After calling their final two timeouts, the Mountaineers still failed to get the ball inbounds, giving the Bearcats a chance to tie. However, Tyler Betsey's 3-point attempt hit the front iron, and Cincinnati lost its second straight and saw its record in Quad 1 games go to 1-9.

West Virginia's Javon Small finished with 16 points, including 10 in the first half. Jonathan Powell contributed 12 points and nine r ebounds.

Jizzle James, who scored at least 24 points in each of the previous three games, led Cincinnati with 13 on Wednesday. He shot 6-for-20 from the floor and battled foul trouble. Day Day Thomas added 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

West Virginia made 12 of 14 free throws, while Cincinnati sank just two of its seven foul shots.

Cincinnati played without Simas Lukosius. The senior guard, the team's second-leading scorer (11.4 ppg), sustained a shoulder injury during the team's loss at then-No. 10 Iowa State on Saturday, the Bearcat Journal reported.

West Virginia led 25-16 just past th e midpoint of the first half before Thomas sank a jumper and a 3-pointer and teammate Dan Skillings Jr. followed with a layup to cut the gap to two points.

The Bearcats' Dillon Mitchell sank a last-second layup off an inbound lob to cut the halftime deficit to 29-27.

Cincinnati's first-half rally came as James, the team's leading scorer, sat for the final 7:50 after picking up his second foul.

The Bearcats took a 31-29 lead less than 90 seconds into the half second after a James jumper. The lead went back and forth until Mitchell's jumper gave Cincinnati a 47-41 lead midway through the half.

That's when West Virginia went on a decisive run. Small's free throws with 5:41 left gave the hosts a 48-47 lead. Hansberry and Powell connected on back-to-back treys and Hansberry finished the surge with a layup that made it 58-50 with 1:29 remaining.