MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia rallied to turn a six-point deficit into a late nine-point lead Wednesday against Cincinnati.

Suddenly, though, the Bearcats nearly completed a miraculous ending to force overtime.

A pair of three-pointers in less than 4 seconds from Dan Skillings Jr., the second of which came off a steal on an inbound pass, trimmed the Bearcats’ deficit to three.

When the Mountaineers turned it over again on an inbound pass that deflected off Sencire Harris, it left Cincinnati in position to force overtime after it had trailed 62-53 with inside 10 seconds remaining. The Bearcats couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity at getting even, but Tyler Betsey’s uncontested three-pointer from out front was off the mark, and the Mountaineers hung on for a much-needed 62-59 victory inside the WVU Coliseum.

“When that ball was in the air, I was like, ‘that’s going in,’” West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said. “It felt like we almost put the game away, but like we told them in the locker room, that’s why you never take for granted until that clock hits zero, because there are just so many things that could happen. But that was one of the wilder sequences I’ve ever been a part of. I’m just thankful that the ball didn’t go in.”

The result allows WVU (16-10, 7-8) to secure a regular season sweep of the Bearcats (15-11, 5-10) and avoid matching its longest losing streak this season of three games.

The Bearcats controlled the second half for the first 13 minutes and final seconds, but in between, the Mountaineers made enough plays to prevail.

“At the end of the day, that scoreboard says what it says and however it got there, we want to be on the right side of the column,” DeVries said. “We’re certainly not going to apologize for any of that.” 

With West Virginia mired in a prolonged offensive slump that spanned more than 20 minutes of play, UC led 47-41 on a Dillon Mitchell jumper.

But out of the under 8-minute media timeout, Mitchell missed two free throws, and the game began to turn in the Mountaineers’ favor starting with a driving bucket from Joseph Yesufu.

When WVU freshman Jonathan Powell made the most of a second-chance opportunity and drilled a three-pointer with 6:10 remaining, the Mountaineers were to within one.

“Had a lead in the latter part of the game on the road against a good team and it went sideways a lot of different ways,” UC head coach Wes Miller said.

Two free throws from Javon Small, who played through a sore ankle from the midway point of the first half on, put WVU in front for the first time since a 37-36 advantage.

With 4:19 remaining, Amani Hansberry added two more free throws for the Mountaineers, who made 12-of-14 attempts to the Bearcats’ dismal 2 for 7 effort from the charity stripe.

Jizzle James’ three with 4:01 to play tied the game at 50, but Hansberry countered with a triple of his own, and Powell made one on West Virginia’s next possession for a 56-50 lead with 2:51 left.

“In the first half, they weren’t dropping, but I stayed confident and just kept shooting,” Powell said. “Especially to see those two go in, it really felt good.”

Hansberry and Powell both scored in the paint down the stretch, with the freshman taking a pass from Small and converting a layup for a 60-53 advantage with 46 seconds remaining.

“It’s just basketball instinct,” Small said. “I’ve always been able to see the open man. Use some pivots, step throughs and JP was wide open. I’m happy that he cut. Usually he doesn’t cut and now that he did, he got himself a wide open layup.”

After Small’s two free throws with 34 seconds left, the Mountaineers appeared in total control, but Powell missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 16 seconds remaining that kept minimal hope alive for UC.

Had Betsey gotten the three to fall, WVU was headed to overtime for the second straight game.

“That was my fault. I lost track of my man,” Small said. “Happy that he missed. But I have to do better of staying with my man in late-game situations.“

The Mountaineers executed at a high level offensively for the first 11-plus minutes and led 25-16 when Small scored in the paint 8:26 before halftime.

Small then exited for nearly 4 minutes, and over that time, the Bearcats utilized a 7-0 run to pull to within two.

Eduardo Andre’s conventional three-point play marked WVU’s only field goal over the final 8:25 of the opening half, and it left the Mountaineers with a 29-25 lead, though the Bearcats cut the deficit in half on a perfectly-executed inbounds play with 1.7 seconds remaining that led to Mitchell scoring off a lob.

Mitchell and James accounted for the first two field goals of the second half to leave UC in front 33-31 for its first lead since 2-0.

The Bearcats were in front 43-41 before James scored on a drive to the rim, and when Mitchell followed with a basket 1:03 later, the Bearcats held their largest lead of the outing.

“We were down six and it felt like 20, because we couldn’t score at all,” DeVries said. “They missed a couple free throws. Somebody finally helped us out and missed some free throws. That was nice of them.“

Hansberry led all players with 17 points and 13 rebounds and helped key the Mountaineers to a 40-32 rebounding advantage.

“Had a good start to the game and then it got a little shaky for me,” Hansberry said. “Trying to be consistent and play my role and contribute to winning any way that I can.”

Small added 16 points and four assists and Powell scored 12 to go with nine boards.

Day Day Thomas and James scored 13 apiece, but the latter shot 6 for 20. James entered with 89 points over his last four games after going scoreless on 0 for 8 shooting back on February 2 when WVU won at Cincinnati, 63-50. He was limited to 25 minutes in this one due to four fouls.

“Jizzle was in foul trouble and that changed the game a little bit. I thought we really found something with him in the ball screen in the second half, and he even missed a few that he usually doesn’t miss,” Miller said. “But the foul trouble affected his play.”

Mitchell and Skillings Jr. scored 10 apiece in defeat.

UC was without Simas Lukosius for the first time this season. Lukosius is second on the Bearcats with a scoring average of 11.4 and leads the team with 54 threes.

“You lose a guy like Simas that leads us in minutes played,” Miller said, “that’s going to have an effect.”