Ominous screencap! The 49-41 score was the largest lead of the game for 10th-ranked West Virginia Monday night, and it was indeed the beginning of the end inside the Ferrell Center — just not at all the way you’d think.

The Mountaineers oftentimes settle into spots like this. Cumulative effect. Heavy legs. Tired guards. You know the routine.

This was not that.

No. 11 Baylor got a three-point play on this trip, and that started a 16-2 run. WVU was in real trouble when Lamont West had an open look at a straight-on 3-pointer that did everything but fall in and tie the score 54-54. On the other end, Baylor’s Al Freeman was open and hit a 3 for a 57-51 lead.

A miss and a swing, so to speak.

The game was there for either team, and we said this as we watched it live. “(Team name goes here) is one stop and one shot away from making a run.” That opportunity was rolling around at the feet of the Mountaineers for much of the second half, but they just couldn’t lean down and grab it. The Bears are bigger and longer, of course, so it was easier for them to reach for it and snatch it away and outscore WVU 30-9 to take a 13-point lead in the final minute.

They were 8-for-11 from the floor and 7-for-7 at the free-throw line, and the Mountaineers … they were not.

“I thought defensively we got really tentative,” Huggins said. “And then they just beat us to death on the glass. We’re usually a pretty good rebounding team, but they whipped up pretty good on the glass.”

WVU took 14 more shots, forced 18 turnovers and lost just eight and had a 20-8 scoring edge in points off turnovers — and lost by nine points and trailed by 13 in the final minute. Baylor outrebounded WVU 43-23 and had 14 offensive rebounds for a 12-4 lead in second-chance points.

“We just weren’t boxing them out,” Carter said. “If we keep them off the glass, we keep them from getting those second-chance points, and it’s a whole different game.”

Johnathan Motley, a junior playing perhaps his final home game, scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half and had eight rebounds. He was also 11 for 11 at the free-throw line. Jo Lual-Acuil had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Al Freeman had 12 points off the bench, where Baylor outscored WVU 20-12, and chipped in a pair of 3-pointers as Baylor made its move.

Carter had 18 points and nine rebounds and played 38 minutes. Tarik Phillip had 12 points and Elijah Macon added 11. The Mountaineers shot 37.3 percent and missed 12 of 15 3-point shots, making then 6 for 29 on the two-game road trip. Baylor blocked eight shots, and the 1-1-3 zone kept the Mountaineers from getting the ball into favorable positions.

“There were some points we couldn’t even drive the ball to the basket,” Macon said. “They clogged the middle a lot and contested a lot of shots. They made it real hard for us to score inside. We did a better job scoring inside when we played them back at home. They limited that this time and made us shoot the ball more from the perimeter.”

That zone looked like the Roman Empire. Baylor was all over the floor. It expanded and collapsed and blocked eight shots. Still rebounded the ball, too. The final count was outrageous. It’s not the norm. It doesn’t happen to WVU. So don’t panic about that. But WVU has some rebounding issues, and each and all were exposed.

Hey, it’s fun and cathartic and normal to react and to unearth, but we didn’t really learn or see anything new last night. This would include WVU’s offense continuing to trend the wrong way, which is amplified by the defense slipping a bit. (If the graphic doesn’t make sense for you, check out the “glossary” here.)

Let’s whisper for a moment: If and when the season meets its end for the Mountaineers, it’s probably going to be like what you saw Monday — and remember, that’s a team that was No. 1 in the country for a while and No. 1 in the RPI far longer. But still, a team that plays good half-court defense, whether in a zone or in man-to-man, is going to ask questions of the Mountaineers, who don’t have a reliable create-to-score option. A team that rebounds will even out the advantage in shots or possessions WVU builds with its press. A team with a frontcourt force or even two productive players is going to dig into WVU’s frontcourt depth, which has dipped lately. The Mountaineers miss midseason Brandon Watkins.

WVU ran into all three of them Monday night and still erased and built (and lost!) a nine-point lead on the road on senior night when a first-team all-conference player acted like one … actually, when a first-round pick acted like one. Second game in a two-game/three-day trip, third game without a starting forward — who, offensive inconsistencies aside, is a sharp passer and would have helped against the zone — and with some of the most active officials we’ve seen this season and three starters dinged by foul trouble, you move on and remember this: WVU still controls what happens with regard to the No. 2 seed. Win Friday, and it belongs to the Mountaineers.