MORGANTOWN — Honor Huff, with the help of the free-throw line, refused to let West Virginia get crowned on Thursday.

The Mountaineers also flashed some defense down the stretch against Stanford star freshman Ebuka Okorie.

It all led to WVU’s 82-77 overtime victory against Stanford inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, in the opening round of the College Basketball Crown tournament.

The Mountaineers (19-14) now advance to Saturday’s semifinals against either Rutgers or Creighton. The semifinal matchup tips off at 4 p.m., at the T-Mobile Arena.

WVU was 3.5 seconds away from going one-and-done in the tournament. That was until Huff earned what may have been the most bewildering foul call of the season on Stanford guard Benny Gealer about 40-feet from the basket and then canned three free throws to send the game into overtime.

The situation: Stanford’s Jeremy Dent-Smith missed the second of two free throws with 9.5 seconds left in regulation and WVU’s D.J. Thomas grabbed the rebound.

The ball quickly found Huff, who finished with 21 points to give him 2,009 for his career, and the WVU guard began to push the ball up the court.

Once he was about three or four steps past halfcourt, Huff launched what was his deepest 3-point attempt of the season. As he was going up, Gealer, for some reason, tried to strip the ball or go for a steal. Instead, he raked his hand across Huff’s arm, forcing the referees to blow a whistle and call the foul.

As he had been all game, Huff was money from the foul line. He went 3 for 3 and finished 11 of 13 from the stripe for the game to send the game into overtime.

“When the shots aren’t falling, you have to counter with something,” Huff said.

Huff’s play ended what was a wild run for the Mountaineers at the end of regulation. WVU trailed, 67-59, with three minutes left, but finished on a 9-1 run.

“Our group is about as resilient a group that I’ve ever been around,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “Whether it’s a tough loss or a game we’re not playing very well and we look down and out, they have the ability to stay together and keep playing for each other.”

In the overtime, Huff nearly outscored the Cardinal (20-13) by himself. The senior had eight points in the extra period, including one shot he made while falling down and he was able to throw it up at the rim just before landing on his backside.

Harlan Obioha added an and-one 3-point play that got the Mountaineers going and WVU went 8 of 11 from the free-throw line in OT to secure the win.

The foul line was crucial for the Mountaineers. They entered the tournament making 67% from the line, but finished 22 of 26 from the charity stripe against Stanford. The foul shots were especially critical, because WVU went 2 of 20 from the 3-point line, its worst shooting performance of the season from behind the arc.

The defense WVU played down the stretch on Okorie may have been just as critical.

The freshman had 11 points at halftime, but was up to 28 with 8:32 remaining in the second half. He befuddled the Mountaineers with a mixture of drives to the basket, mid-range pull-ups and by going 7 of 9 from the foul line.

That was until WVU head coach Ross Hodge made the decision to run two defenders at Okorie, forcing the guard to either force the issue or give the ball up. Okorie chose the latter, and while he finished with an impressive 34 points, he was held to four points over the final eight minutes of regulation and scored just one basket in overtime.

“Ebuka is an incredible player,” Hodge said. “He was everything we thought he was going to be. We did everything we could to keep the ball out of his hands and he still had 34 points.”

Okorie’s 34 points were the most scored against the Mountaineers this season and was his eighth 30-point game of the season. It was the most points scored by one player against the Mountaineers since Iowa State’s Izaiah Brockington went for 35 in 2022.

WVU countered offensively with Huff’s 21, but Treysen Eaglestaff, who is battling a turf-toe injury suffered before the Big 12 tournament, added 18 points. He made both of WVU’s 3-pointers on the night. Brenen Lorient added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Without the 3-point shot, WVU got more physical and scored 44 points in the paint and only committed six turnovers in a 45-minute game.

“I think we did a good job of getting it into the paint,” Huff said. “(Lorient) did a great job of finishing down there. Treysen had a stretch where he was getting us going. At the end of the game, I had some tough twos, which I usually don’t do that. You have to find ways to win.”

By winning the quarterfinal game, WVU players are now guaranteed to bring home at least a split of $50,000. If the Mountaineers win in the semifinals, players would split $100,000 if they lose in Sunday’s title game or $300,000 if they win it.