SATURDAY'S GAME - KENTUCKY

LAS VEGAS - On Saturday night, in a city known for its gambling, it was no dice for West Virginia's basketball team. The Mountaineers looked strong against Kentucky in the first half of the Las Vegas Invitational finals but melted down in the second half and fell 54-43 before a partisan Wildcat crowd at the Orleans Arena. No, it won't go down as one of WVU's worst losses ever. UK, after all, is the all-time NCAA leader in wins (now at 1,970) and is now 13-4 against the Mountaineers. But don't tell that to WVU's Da'Sean Butler. After this one, he was pained. "If we were to play again ...'' he tried before restarting. "We didn't execute at all offensively,'' he said. "Alex [Ruoff], myself, we didn't shoot the ball well. And we have to shoot free throws [better].'' He sighed. "It was just a bad day all the way around.'' Not exactly. In the first half of the championship game, the Mountaineers held Kentucky, now 4-2, to 26.3 percent shooting with a stifling defense. WVU was blocking shots, slapping balls and, when the basketball went down low, covering like a Vegas pro. Kentucky was held to just five baskets. But after halftime, everything changed. The Atlantic Coast Conference officials, which allowed WVU leeway in the first half, began whistling fouls on the Mountaineers. At one point, WVU was charged with seven fouls to UK's 2. That seemed to hurt West Virginia, now 4-1, as it attempted to handle Kentucky's big men, especially Huntington native and ex-Mountain State player of the year Patrick Patterson from Huntington. The 6-9 UK sophomore took an inbounds pass over WVU's Dee Proby to cut the Mountaineer lead to 32-26. WVU then began shooting itself in the proverbial foot. Time after time. Darryl "Truck'' Bryant stole the ball, but then turned it over. Ruoff tried an alley-oop pass to 6-foot-2 Joe Mazzulla that went out of bounds on Mazzulla. Seconds later, Mazzulla tripped and UK's Jodie Meeks, the game's leading scorer, went the distance for a layin. When Patterson converted a pair of free throws with 9:02 remaining to give Kentucky its first lead of the game at 37-36, WVU didn't respond. Mazzulla's pass to Wellington Smith went off the forward's fingertips. Mazzulla followed that with a missed layup. The Mountaineers tied the game twice on a Smith 3-point basket (39-all) and on two converted free throws from Ruoff (41-all), but after UK's 6-10 sophomore Josh Harrellson shook loose inside to again give his team the lead, it was all Blue and White. "We couldn't make a shot,'' said WVU coach Bob Huggins. "We had good looks, but didn't make them. And you have to make free throws. We would have stopped their [second-half] run had we made free throws. It's why they're called 'free.'" WVU shot 30.6 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from 3-point range and 58.8 percent from the free throw line. "My concern after the first half,'' Huggins said, "was we had to keep a cushion because they'd foul us.'' Nothing, though, worked. Whereas Kentucky was held to five made buckets in the first half, WVU was held to five in the second. Wildcats coach Billy Gillespie seemed relieved, especially when he found out his team turned the ball over 23 times. "I told Jodie [Meeks] he set a tournament record for turnovers,'' said the coach. "I told him he shattered it ... But we had a really good team win, especially after a tough start. "West Virginia is a very, very, very good team. They just missed a bunch of shots, especially in the second half.'' Meeks finished with 19 points for UK. Patterson had 15 and 10 rebounds and Harrellson had 12 and 10, respectively. The only WVU scorer in double figures was Ruoff, who finished with 10 points. The Mountaineers will now travel to Mississippi for a game on Wednesday. Reach Mitch Vingle at 348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazette.com