PHOENIX - So what if he hadn't scored in the first 40 minutes? In overtime, B.J. Raymond didn't hesitate to take - and make - the two biggest shots of the night.

His 3-pointers proved to be the difference as Xavier beat West Virginia 79-75 Thursday to advance to the West Regional final against No. 1 seed UCLA on Saturday.

''I shot that shot probably 100,000 times in my life,'' Raymond said. ''It is easy once you've shot it that many times. So it really wasn't like the shot was pressure.''

There was plenty of pressure around him, though.

Third-seeded Xavier, a 30-game winner for the first time in school history, trailed West Virginia by six in overtime. Despite the deficit, the Musketeers insist they had no visions of 2007, when they lost in overtime to No. 1 seed Ohio State.

''I don't think anybody was necessarily thinking of that particular game,'' Xavier's Josh Duncan said. ''We were thinking about not giving up, though.''

Raymond hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 1:18 to play. He then shook loose on an inbounds play, took a crosscourt bounce pass from Stanley Burrell and made a 3 with the shot clock expiring for a 78-74 lead with 30 seconds left.

''I was kind of a non-factor for the first 40 minutes,'' Raymond said. ''I knew when I got back in there, I had to make something happen.''

The second 3 was the dagger.

''It wasn't a great play that I drew up,'' Xavier coach Sean Miller said. ''It was a terrific pass by Stanley Burrell and an amazing shot off the bounce by B.J.''

Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins said his defense clogged up the intended play but ''somebody fell asleep'' to allow the wide-open 3.

The Musketeers (30-6) are in a regional final for the second time. They made it this far in 2004. Xavier has never been in the Final Four.

Duncan scored a career-high 26 points, playing the last 11 minutes of the second half and all the overtime with four fouls.

''I'm here to tell you that there are not too many forwards in this country that have played any better than he has through the month of February and March,'' Miller said.

Joe Alexander scored 18 and had 10 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Mountaineers (26-11) before fouling out in the overtime.

Xavier, which led by 18 early in the game, rallied from a 71-65 deficit in overtime.

''We were up six and they beat us down the floor, cut it to four,'' Huggins said. ''(Drew) Lavender makes a 3 to tie the game. We didn't do what we'd been doing the whole game. Yeah, we had some breakdowns. We had some breakdowns, and they made big plays.''

West Virginia missed four of six free throws in the overtime. Alexander missed one with 14.2 seconds left in regulation that would have given his team a 65-64 lead.