West Virginia opened its week in the Battle 4 Atlantis as a heavy underdog against No. 3 Gonzaga.

West Virginia staged a comeback in the final seconds of the second half to force overtime and they would be successful there, ultimately outscoring Gonzaga 86-78.

West Virginia scored five points in the final 19 seconds of regulation before outscoring Gonzaga 15-7 in overtime to secure the win.

West Virginia and Gonzaga both had good starts from beyond the arc. The scoring began with WVU’s Amani Hansberry knocking down a three-pointer, while Khalif Battle responded with a three-pointer of his own. Four of both teams’ first five shots came from distance, and Gonzaga led early 9-8.

After trailing 12-8, WVU responded with two more balls from Hansberry, the first a layup and the second a three-pointer, giving WVU a 13-12 lead. Tucker DeVries scored his first points of the day, hitting another three-pointer for WVU, which trailed 16-15 with 13:13 left in the first half.

The Mountaineers started 4 of 8 from three games, but they couldn’t sustain that. The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run as WVU missed its last six shots, and Gonzaga made them pay. DeVries made a simple transition to repel a steal to end WVU’s field goal drought, and Javon Small made three free throws with 6:16 to play while WVU trailed 27-23.

West Virginia would keep things close despite struggling to get the offense going. Small made a big three-pointer for WVU as the shot clock expired to keep them within one possession before Battle began to take over Gonzaga. He scored nine straight points while WVU made just two field goals in the final 9:11 of the first half. Gonzaga led 39-31 at halftime.

The second half seemed to get off to a rocky start as WVU turned the ball over twice in the first two minutes. They would quickly make up for it as DeVries found Toby Okani for an open dunk before Small made a steal and scored, then made a three-pointer to cut Gonzaga’s lead to 43-40 with 16:17 to play and force a timeout the Bulldogs.

WVU would ultimately take the lead as Hansberry hit a three-pointer to tie the game before Small made a layup to give WVU a 45-43 lead, their first lead in more than 12 minutes in the first half.

The Mountaineers would continue to maintain that lead as Small continued to pave the way for the Mountaineers. A three-pointer from Small put them ahead by five points before Gonzaga hit a three-pointer from Nolan Hickman to cut WVU’s lead to two.

West Virginia had arguably the first bad possession of the half as there was a shot clock violation that resulted in the U8s media timeout.

With just under six minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs took the lead back with a layup from Braden Huff and were ahead 59-58. On the ensuing possession, DeVries missed a three-pointer for WVU as the ball went out of bounds for the Mountaineers.

WVU hadn’t had a shot since the 8:08 mark of the second half, but turned to Small, who made a jumper with 4:47 to play to cut Gonzaga’s lead back to one.

Gregg made two free throws for Gonzaga with 3:19 to play, and WVU struggled to get anything going on offense, but DeVries was fouled with one second left on the shot clock as he went to the line for three free throws. He would make two of three, giving WVU a 64-63 lead with 2:50 to play.

Gonzaga turned to Huff after back-to-back possessions when he made two floaters near the rim that sandwiched a Hansberry missed shot as WVU called a timeout and trailed 67-64 with 1:44 to play. Small was fouled and went to the free throw line, both of which meant WVU was trailing.

Gonzaga went back to Huff, who scored another basket, putting the Bulldogs back in the lead by three points. West Virginia had three looks at the basket, including two three-pointers from Small, but he couldn’t get through.

Ryan Nembhard made two free throws for the Bulldogs, while DeVries went down and knocked down a three-pointer with 19.1 seconds left in the game to keep WVU alive from a two-point deficit.

DeVries then got a steal and drove to the basket, where he was fouled with 5.9 seconds left in the game. DeVries made both free throws, tying the game at 71-71 as Gonzaga called a timeout to try to set up their game.

Battle would get the ball but turn it over as time expired, sending the game into overtime tied 71-71.