WKU Basketball: Tops Fall Flat In Second Half of Myrtle Beach Invitational Finale, 78–62
Western Kentucky started the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational red hot, led by the best stretch of a performance we’ve…
Western Kentucky started the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational red hot, led by the best stretch of a performance we’ve seen from Charles Bassey, but the Tops couldn’t hold onto their hot start and fell flat in the second half to fall to UCF, 78–62, to close out the MBI.
Bassey couldn’t have had a better start to the game, scoring the first 11 points for the Hilltoppers (including a three!!!) and the Knights struggled to find offense as the Tops led early, 17–6, about halfway through the first half.
From there, the Knights started hitting shots and, for the most part, held the Tops at bay, finishing the first 20 minutes on a 20–14 run to lead to a 32–28 halftime lead for WKU.
The second half was a far different story in just about every way. After not leading at all and hitting just one three pointer in the opening frame, UCF drained two threes to take a 34–32 lead in the opening minute of the half and hopped on a 15–4 run to take a 43–36 lead, and never looked back.
As we’ve seen how many times now this year, the Hilltoppers just fell apart in the second half. WKU went on runs in which they’d come within a couple of possessions, but were never able to get as hot as they needed to to overtake UCF for the rest of the half.
One of the reasons the Tops, and especially Bassey, found early success but went away from it as the game went on was getting Bassey involved on either touching the ball early in the possession or helping set screens at the top of they key to free up the ball carrier or a recipient to move the ball.
The Hilltoppers’ second unit played maybe the best we’ve seen, and Dalano Banton continues to look more comfortable running the point.
Josh Anderson, after stealing the show in the second half against West Virginia, was not much of a factor tonight, scoring no points despite having several close looks on drives to the rim that, for a variety of reasons, didn’t go in.
Taveion Hollingsworth’s statline was better than he actually played, as he turned in a quiet 14-point performance.
While the bad taste of the second half is what is going to linger in the minds of many Hilltopper fans, there were a lot of good things that transpired throughout the game, especially in the first half, it’s just a matter of a team still looking for experience, which they’ll get every time they touch the floor.
The potential is there, we just need to see it over 40 minutes.
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