WKU Basketball: Hilltoppers Snap Losing Streak Against MT; Best Raiders, 71–63
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were unable to ever completely finish off the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, seeing an 11-point halftime…
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were unable to ever completely finish off the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, seeing an 11-point halftime lead come within two but, eventually, the home side held off as the Hilltoppers snapped a four-game losing streak to the Raiders with a 71–63 victory on Thursday.
Trailing 32–28 as the second half began, the Hilltoppers opened the half red hot, opening on a 12–0 run thanks in large part to back-to-back-to-back three pointers from Taveion Hollingsworth, Jared Savage and Lamonte Bearden, matching the Tops’ total first-half three-point output in the second frame’s opening minute.
WKU built a lead as big as 11, at 48–37, five minutes into the half, but MTSU slowly chipped away at the Tops’ lead, working the ball inside against the Tops’ 2–3 zone and either having success with layups or getting to the free throw line.
After MT cut the WKU lead to two points at 53–51, the Tops went on a min-run of their own to open up a nine-point lead with about 7:30 to play. From there, the Tops’ lead fluctuated from three to seven points, allowing the memories of previous blown leads play more of a factor of the fear of MT coming back than what the actual reality was. (Inside the final 7:30 of game time, MT never scored more than five straight points.)
The Hilltoppers held a lead for a majority of the first half too, but MT took a lead with 6:40 to play in the midst of a 12–0 run to take a 28–22 advantage.
From there, points were hard to come by, as the two teams combined for 10 points in the final 4:11 of the first half but the 12–0 Raider run, and a larger 18–10 MT run to close the half, gave MT the halftime lead.
MTSU also found success on the glass, outrebounding the Tops in the first half 21–15 and over the course of the game 46–30.
But, MT didn’t shoot incredibly well, logging a field goal percentage of 34% and a three-point percentage (their best statistic in terms of season-wide numbers) of 30%.
The Hilltoppers certainly turned it on in the second half; a team that had no double-figure scorers at half time turned in four at game’s end, and one who ended with nine (Hollingsworth).
Things are good in Hilltopper land right now; the Tops have won eight of their last nine and, with North Texas’ loss to FAU, are in third place in the conference standings.
Final Thoughts
Lamonte Bearden was strong running point again for the Tops — he committed just one turnover (WKU as a team committed just nine) and finished with 11 points and eight assists. He’s not incredibly flashy, but it’s hard to argue with that production.
Josh Anderson led the Tops in scoring with 17 points, and it could have been 21 or 22 if not for a couple of missed opportunities at the rim.
Low-key double-double alert tonight goes to Jared Savage who scored 16 and logged 11 rebounds. That is not a typo — he was very active on the glass this evening.
The Tops’ second unit wasn’t incredibly impressive this evening: Tolu Smith logged a -11 in 10 minutes, Dalano Banton was -4 in six minutes and Jake Ohmer (who I wasn’t thrilled with when it came to decision making this evening) went -10 in 13 minutes. The trio also combined for just five points — two from Tolu (who had a three-point opportunity but missed his free throw) and a three from Ohmer.
On MTSU’s side, the trio of Donavan Sims (18), Reggie Scurry (16) and Antonio Green (14) combined for 48 of MT’s 63 points.
Final Stats
