Jim Mashek

HILLTOPPERS IMPROVE TO 9-3, REMAIN UNBEATEN AT E.A. DIDDLE ARENA

Austin Peay State University’s backcourt kept coming.

Dez White and Dezi Jones gave the Governors a presence from the 3-point line. Western Kentucky withstood one threat after another, and Austin Peay was able to tie the game three times down the stretch.

In large part because fifth-year guard Demarcus Sharp kept attacking the basket.

Ultimately, the Hilltoppers found themselves with a one-point lead, and 12.3 seconds showing on the E.A. Diddle Arena clock. Steve Lutz, Western Kentucky’s first-year coach, still had a foul to give. The Toppers did just that, and then Austin Peay had six seconds to find a potential game-winning shot.

“Our plan was … to foul (Sharp),” Lutz said. “Go for a steal, and see if we couldn’t get an easy one. At the end of the day, not let him have his rhythm. Have them inbound the basketball again, and it worked to our advantage, obviously.”

Lutz had seen plenty of Demarcus Sharp at his previous job, with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. So, too, had 27-year-old Jalen Jackson, the Tops’ fifth-year reserve guard who followed Lutz from Corpus Christi to WKU. Sharp got the ball and hesitated briefly, near the free-throw line, before finding a path to right wing, just a few feet from the baseline.

Sharp got off a good shot. And Jackson got a piece of it, just enough to preserve the Hilltoppers’ tense 65-64 victory over the Governors before a paid Diddle crowd of 3,109. A foul would have given Austin Peay a chance to win the game at the free-throw line, but Jackson was having none of that, either.

WKU remained unbeaten at home, improving to 9-3 overall. Austin Peay, the Tops’ erstwhile rival in the Ohio Valley Conference, dropped to 6-7. And it all came down to defense, in the final few seconds, which was music to the ears of WKU point guard Don McHenry.

“Jalen’s a really good defender,” McHenry said with a smile.

Jackson and backup forward Rodney Howard gave the Tops a significant boost off the WKU bench. Howard hit six of 10 shots and finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals, while Jackson concentrated on his defense. He hit two of five free throws — the Hilltoppers struggled at the line, going 8-for-13 in the second half — but more important, added six assists and two blocks in 25-plus minutes on the floor.

“I know that was an ugly win,” Howard said, “but you need those kinds of games.”

No qualifier was necessary, at least the way Steve Lutz sees it.

“I don’t think there’s any ‘ugly wins,’ guys. We celebrate every one,” Lutz said.

That’s why Lutz, his coaching staff and his players took another victory lap around Diddle Arena moments after it was over, a tradition he saw firsthand during his time as an assistant coach at Purdue University from 2017-21. He then left for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and got the Islanders to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons with that team.

That’s the goal, obviously, at WKU. The Hilltoppers haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 10 long years.

Steve Lutz was confident Jalen Jackson could give him the defense he needed in the game’s final seconds.

“Jalen takes it personally,” Lutz said. “I knew it would mean something to him, that it was important to him.”

It was an uneven performance for WKU at the offensive end of the floor — “we got stagnant, offensively,” Lutz said afterward — with junior guard Don McHenry leading the way with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. The Tops got a critical basket from senior forward Brandon Marshall, who took a pass from Khristian Lander and drove the baseline for a resounding dunk to break a 61-61 tie.

WKU scored just four points in the game’s final minutes, but that was enough to send the Hilltoppers to victory.

Demarcus Sharp made stops at Northwestern State (Louisiana), Missouri State, Colby Community College and Moberly College before transferring to APSU. Dezi Jones led the Governors with 16 points, but Sharp played nearly the entire game and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“They have a really good one-on-one player in Sharp,” Lutz said. “Fortunately for me, this is my fourth time playing him and I knew they were going to him down the stretch.”

The Hilltoppers will now make a long road trip to Riverside, California, for Tuesday night’s game against Cal Baptist (7-3, 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference). Then they’ll take a two-week break before opening Conference USA play at home against Liberty University (9-3 overall) on January 6.