WKU Basketball: Tops Win Streak Snapped in Murfreesboro, 69-52

Tops were down two starters and lost on the road to MTSU

Western Kentucky saw their seven game win streak come to an end tonight as MTSU defeat a short-handed Hilltopper team without two starters, 69-52.

Jairus Hamilton (knee injury) and Luke Frampton (illness) were out tonight so coach Stansbury called upon Josh Anderson and Sherman Brashear to start tonight. Brashear did a very solid job on both ends of the court despite him not seeing the court more than four games this season and finished with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from deep and four rebounds. Josh Anderson had eleven points and six rebounds in his start as well.

The Tops were, as usual, led by Dayvion McKnight who had an off night by his standards and finished with 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field. The Tops would shoot just 31% from the floor on the night.

Jamarion Sharp finished with eight points, eleven rebounds, and five blocks but fouled out for the second straight game with about 5:03 left in the game.

MTSU weren’t exactly shooting that hot either as they shot 39% from the floor and only 27% from deep (and most of their makes coming in the first half). Eli Lawrence led the Blue Raiders in scoring with 15 points.

In the first half, it was a closer contest than most of us thought it would be with two starters out but Brashear made some threes and Stansbury also played Cozart, Stansbury, and Butz for some minutes as well. The Tops would hang around most of the first half but MTSU went on a run to end the half and lead, 39-30.

The second half however is when the Blue Raiders were able to pull away and that lack of depth and experience for WKU really started to show. Sharp got in foul trouble, a lot of the shots they were making earlier weren’t falling, and some turnovers made it too much to overcome. WKU got within four points with 9:42 left but MTSU would still lead the entire second half and win, 69-52.

With MTSU winning, they won the East side of Conference USA and will be a #1 seed in the upcoming C-USA Tournament. The Tops still hold onto second place in the East and with some games against Marshall coming up (which they haven’t looked good at all this season) they should hopefully be able to hold on to second place and get a first round bye in the C-USA Tournament.

Final stats from Murfreesboro: