WKU Basketball: Tops Drop 3rd Straight with 86-83 Loss at Florida International
The Tops rallied from an early 18 point deficit but faltered in the second half
The woes keep on coming for WKU Men’s Basketball. They have dropped their third straight and their fifth road game with today’s loss at FIU. Despite a game that was deemed as a disaster from the start, the Tops managed to find their way back in the game for a short time.
The Panthers jumped off into a 10-0 lead to open the game. The Tops slowly came back into their form by cutting the deficit. It was short-lived as the Panther kept the foot on the gas as they jumped off to an intriguing 22-14 lead near the 12-minute mark.
The hits kept coming as the lead was now extended to 18 points. Thankfully once more, the Tops were able to slowly trim the deficit again to close the first half trailing 42-38. Josh Anderson was able to come off the bench to lead all WKU scores by having 14 points of his own. Sadly, FIU went on a 24-4 run to end the second half.
In the second half, it was the same story as the Panthers continued to stifle the Tops. The Tops once again did not have an answer for on-ball defense against the three-point shot. Despite having more effort for turnovers, it did not have the same results for rebounding. Inside of the last eight minutes of the game, it seemed like the Tops were finally about to break free.
They also went on a 10-0 run to take the lead as the Panthers did not score for four minutes. The lead quickly changed as time winded down. Eric Lovett was able to hit a three-point shot to give the lead back to FIU with 12 seconds left. After that, it was all that was written as the Tops ost hir third straight Conference-USA game.
The WKU Hilltoppers are now in reevaluation mode as they’re staring down a 10-9 record. With two wins & four losses in C-USA play, it’s looking very trying to finish the season on a high note.
They will try again on Thursday, January 27th with a challenging home date against UAB. Currently, the Blazers are leading the East Division as they have a 6-1 conference record. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network with an 8 pm tip-off time.
This season has already dropped off a cliff. Get rid of Standbury.