Photo courtesy of WVU Athletic Communications WVU forward D.J. Thomas drives to the hoop against Creighton during the College Basketball Crown semifinals.

MORGANTOWN — Chance Moore threw up the exclamation point with a two-handed slam in the final seconds Saturday, but WVU freshman D.J. Thomas had already clinched the Mountaineers’ spot in the finals of the College Basketball Crown tournament long before then.

The 6-foot-9 Thomas, a developing big man with a streaky outside shooting touch, needed all of just 21 minutes to put his full offensive game on display. He scored 20 points on 9 of 14 shooting, as West Virginia powered past Creighton, 87-70, inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to advance to today’s Crown championship game.

The Mountaineers (20-14) will take on Oklahoma (21-15) in Sunday’s finals, scheduled to tip at 5:30 p.m. There will be $300,000 on the line for the winning team. The runner-up will split $100,000. With his performance against the Blue Jays (16-18), Thomas just may have earned a larger piece of the pie.

“D.J. is an exceptional player,” WVU forward Brenen Lorient said. “You saw his first half. He does a little bit of everything. He’s a young player, and for him to be as far ahead as he is as a freshman, he’s going to be a great player. He did so well today and I’m so happy for him.”

It was the final game for Creighton head coach Greg McDermott, who had previously announced he was going to retire at the end of the season. In 32 years as a college basketball head coach, McDermott won 646 games and led the Blue Jays to the 2023 Elite Eight.

“In the handshake line, I told coach McDermott, ‘If I have half the career that you’ve had, it would be a hell of a career,’ ” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “He’s done it with so much class. He’s been a true ambassador to the game, you never heard anything negative associated with his name. He’s impacted a lot of people.”

Thomas was a consistent scoring option throughout the game. He knocked down two 3-pointers in the first half, powered his way through defenders in the paint and also became a threat on pick-and-roll plays.

It’s the type of effort Thomas has flashed throughout the season. He set a career high back in November with 25 points against Lafayette and also had strong games against Houston, Cincinnati and BYU during the regular season.

This was a versatile showing, though, one that Thomas used to display some post moves in the paint, including an impressive spin move he pulled off to give the Mountaineers a 57-48 lead with 12:17 remaining.

Creighton never got closer than eight points the rest of the way, as WVU marched into the finals of a postseason tournament for the first time since former head coach John Beilein led the Mountaineers to the 2007 NIT title.

“There was never a conversation that had to be had with anybody about are you playing, do you want to play,” Hodge said about his players. “These guys love each other. They love the university. They love the state of West Virginia and it’s their heart and their gratitude to be with each other and be able to put a college uniform on. I think that’s directly responsible for why we’re sitting in the position that we’re going to be in (Sunday.)

“It’s been an incredible experience and an experience we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives.”

The win also secured WVU’s first 20-win season since 2020 and Hodge became just the fourth first-year coach in the program’s history to win at least 20 games in his inaugural season, joining Bob Huggins, George King and Lee Patton.

Thomas had plenty of offensive help in this one, as the Mountaineers shot 53% (35 of 66) from the floor and also made 12 3-pointers.

Moore added a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Honor Huff followed up his 21-point performance against Stanford in the opening round with 13 points and four assists. Huff connected on three 3-pointers, giving him 112 on the season. He’ll enter today’s game against the Sooners needing five to match Frank Young’s school record of 117 in one season.

It will also be the first meeting between WVU and Oklahoma since Jan. 17, 2024, when the Sooners were still members of the Big 12.

Treysen Eaglestaff went 4 of 7 from 3-point range and added 16 points and Lorient finished with 15 points for the Mountaineers.

Creighton was led by Josh Dix, who finished with 18 points, but WVU basically outmuscled the Blue Jays with a 39-29 rebounding advantage and a 44-32 advantage in points in the paint.