WKU Basketball: Tops Overcome Sloppy Start, Advance To C-USA Tournament Finals With 70–59 Win…
A night after their best performance of the season, the Tops overcame a slow first half to pull away from a hot-shooting Southern Miss…
A night after their best performance of the season, the Tops overcame a slow first half to pull away from a hot-shooting Southern Miss squad, 70–59, to advance to the Conference USA Tournament Championship game.
The Tops picked up right where they led off the night before, jumping out to a quick 5–2 lead in the first two minutes. The worm would turn quickly, though, as the Eagles would respond with a 7–0 run as unheralded Tim Rowe scored five straight points for Southern Miss.
WKU wasn’t as locked in as Thursday’s game, allowing Southern Miss to extend their lead to seven points but WKU bounced back as Lamonte Bearden tied the game at the 11:51 mark on a free throw. Bearden then hit a layup to give WKU a two-point lead with 11:04 to play in the opening stanza.
The Tops then again lost focus, watching their offense grind to a halt as they went on a four-minute scoring drought before Taveion Hollingsworth made two free throws to cut the deficit to two at 20–18 with 6:31 remaining in the first half. Hollingworth then put back a Bearden miss to tie it up at 20–20 with 5:50 before halftime.
WKU then started to hit their rhythm, getting back to their bread and butter of attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Bearden hit an and-one free throw with 3:35 left in the first half to give WKU a five-point lead.
That lead wouldn’t last, though, as the Tops offense once again stalled and USM came back to tie the game at 27–27 inside 90 seconds before the break. That score remained before a Bearden turnover with 17 seconds left allowed Cortez Edwards to hit a last-second shot to give USM a 29–27 lead at the half.
Southern Miss ended the first half on a 7–0 run.
WKU came out of the locker room looking much better on offense, scoring on three of their first four possessions, but USM responded with clutch three-pointers. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to as much as six before Josh Anderson cut it to one with 13:16 left in the game.
Anderson continued his hot half as a turnaround layup gave WKU a 44–42 lead with 11:37 left.
The lead repeatedly changed hands from there, as each team traded punches.
Southern Miss clung to a 48–47 lead with 7:53 left in the game, taking advantage of a WKU scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes.
That drought stopped with a Charles Bassey lay-up, re-giving WKU a lead with 7:29 remaining and sparking a 7–0 run, forcing a Southern Miss timeout with 5:53 remaining as the Tops led by six.
That lead stayed around five points for the Tops heading into the closing three minutes of the game before Hollingsworth hit a clutch three as the shot clock expired to give WKU a 59–51 lead with 2:45 remaining.
From there, the Tops finally put away the Golden Eagles as USM’s shots stopped falling and WKU extended their lead to as much as 12 before emptying the bench and cruising to an 11-point win.
Here are some post-game thoughts on a great second half performance.
Josh Anderson was the player of the game finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists. It has been great seeing him re-emerge in these last two games.
WKU dominated the foul disparity, 23–11. That helped them gain a 26-shot free throw advantage. That is WKU’s bread and butter and helped them pull through.
Three-pointers were USM’s great equalizer until the end. They finished 11-for-27 and kept them in the game.
Hollingworth had a slow start but came on at the end. After hitting just one of his first eight shots, he finished with 17 points and two rebounds, hitting some clutch threes to extend WKU’s lead when it mattered most. His late-season resurgence continues to help WKU take off.
Bearden had another solid game, finishing with 10 points and four assists.
Bassey was once again quiet but established his will late in the game. He drew two early fouls for the second night in a row but his shot-blocking presence helped USM become one dimensional at the end of the game.
Jared Savage had a ho-hum shooting night, finishing with just nine points but he had six tough rebounds that were huge.
The bench wasn’t much of a factor other than buying the starters some breathing time.
Despite being four hours closer, Southern Miss’ fan support was abysmal. WKU fans outnumbered them 10–1 on the day
Beating a team three times is tough. WKU did it today against USM let’s hope that doesn’t happen tomorrow for ODU.
The win has given WKU their 20th win this season, marking the 45th time a Hilltopper team has garnered 20 wins in a year.
WKU moves to 20–13 on the season. They’ll face the Old Dominion Monarchs for the third time this season (0–2) in the championship game tomorrow at 7:30 PM CT on CBS Sports Network. WKU will need to come out more focused than today but it’s hard to be completely locked in for three straight games. An up and down season comes down to one last game to return WKU to NCAA tournament glory. Let’s do this!
Final Stats
