July 21, 2025
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports Director
The #3 seeded Best Virginia upset the #2 seeded Herd That 82-75 on Sunday night in The Basketball Tournament West Virginia Regional Semi-Final.
Tre Mitchell hit the game-winning jumper in the Elam ending to give Best Virginia the win. His 23 points led the WVU-alumni team into the final of the West Virginia Region where it will play the #1 seeded Elite Nation tomorrow night.
“They dropped into that zone,” Mitchell said. “I truly feel that anytime I get the ball in the middle of the zone, I can do anything with it.”
The difference in the game was the battle of free throws. Best Virginia made 14 of 17 – 82.4%, to Herd That’s 10 of 20 – 50%.
“We knew we had to match their intensity and match their physicality,” Best Virginia head coach Jerrod West said.
With the heavy physicality from both teams throughout the contest, it became very clear that the game would come down to who shot the best from the charity stripe.
“These guys know the importance of knocking down free throws,” West said. “The other night (72-69 victory against DuBois Dream) we missed a few.”
The game started going in the direction of Best Virginia, when it started the second quarter with a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer by Vincent Mitchell. Best Virginia continued to build its lead in the first half knocking down 5 shots from behind the arc.
“They were shooting the ball well,” Herd That head coach Ot Elmore said. “That happens sometimes they make shots. When they make shots you’re in trouble because they play hard defensively and they made shots unfortunately.”
West said that the team was prepared for the physicality of Herd That.
“Scouting report, we knew it was going to be a 15-feet and in physical game,” West said. “We wanted to speed it up. We did it good sometimes, sometimes we didn’t, we have to do a little bit better job in the elam.”
Jacorey Williams led the Herd with 24 points, but only made 4 of 9 foul shots. Xavier Munford went 4 for 6 and was the only Herd That player to make more than 50%.
Herd That outrebounded Best Virginia 45-37, as neither team was proficient form the field. Best Virginia made 29 of 66 (43.9%). Herd That was 30 for 71 (42.3%).
The loss marks the potential end of Herd That in the TBT as Elmore talked about how it’s becoming more and more difficult to put the team in the tournament every year.
“Each year is getting harder and harder to do,” Elmore said. “It’s getting more expensive, the entry fee, getting guys here. Probably weren’t going to do it this year until they put it in Charleston. That might have been the end of this iteration of Herd That. Maybe the young guys who graduated in the last couple of years take it over, that’s probably our last one.”