That’s how the end of a season looks. For WVU, which tiptoed into Friday’s game after three lousy and ominous practices, it sounds as bad as it looks.

“We practice how we play,” guard Jaysean Paige said. “We practiced like crap and then we played like crap. We overlooked them, and they came out and got us.”

WVU played stretches of miserable basketball and went from up by nine points in the middle of the first half to watching what amounted to a Lumberjacks pep rally late in the second half as the underdog dunked and deked its way to a 16-point lead.

The 10th-ranked Mountaineers, who spent seven weeks in the top 10 and a week ago played for the championship in the RPI’s top-rated conference, headed home after their third first-round loss in seven NCAA appearances with coach Bob Huggins. They were humbled this time by the regular-season and tournament champions of the Southland Conference, who defeated VCU in the first round in 2014.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to Stephen F. Austin,” said forward Devin Williams, who earlier this week accidentally referred to the opponent as Stephen A. Austin, a slip the Lumberjacks caught and embraced.

“They did what they were supposed to do. Their play showed how focused and prepared they were, and we just didn’t take it serious. That’s what happens in this tournament when you don’t take people serious. They just scouted well and soaked in what the coaching staff was giving them.”