Jones’ 30 points leads West Virginia in 85-80 thriller over Kansas State Thursday night

Forty minutes wasn't enough time to settle West Virginia's game against Kansas State Thursday night.

A single overtime period didn't help either.

In Bob Huggins' first game against Kansas State since his departure in 2007, the Mountaineers (5-2) defeated the Wildcats 85-80 in double overtime after a career-high 30 points and a 12-rebound performance by WVU senior Kevin Jones.

Down 64-61 with 19 seconds left, Jones hit a 3-point shot from the corner to send the game into its first overtime.

The two teams went back and forth, with neither team getting more than a 2-point lead, until freshman Aaron Brown nailed a 3-point shot with 47 seconds remaining to give the Mountaineers a 73-70 lead.

However, Kansas State (5-1) had a response.

Leading 74-72 after senior Truck Bryant made just one of two free throws, Kansas State's Rodney McGruder, who finished with 20 points, hit a jump shot from the free-throw line to send the game into its second overtime.

Bryant finished with a season-high 24 points.

Brown, who finished with 10 points, stayed hot in the second overtime scoring the Mountaineers' first four points.

Jones showed his inside capabilities again with 58 seconds remaining when he broke a tied game to give West Virginia a lead of 82-80.

It was the last time the Wildcats would be able to taste the lead as freshman Gary Browne and Jones hit clinching free throws.

WVU senior center Deniz Kilicli kept West Virginia in the game early in the second, scoring 10 of the

Mountaineers first 12 points out of the break. But Kilicli picked up his fourth foul at the 12:03 mark of the second half prompting Huggins to take him out.

Kilicli finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and played the final 7:14 without picking up a fifth foul.

Despite a total of 55 fouls in the game for both teams, neither could capitalize from the free-throw line. The Mountaineers were 18-of-31, while the Wildcats were 14-of-26.

Three players fouled out, and six others finished with four fouls. West Virginia's Keaton Miles. Kansas State's Will Spradling and Jamar Samuels also fouled out.

The Wildcats had two players with double-figure scoring other than Thomas Gipson. McGruder scored a team-high 20 points, while Spradling scored 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc.