Jim Mashek

WKU DEALT A CRUSHING BLOW IN PURSUIT OF TOPS’ FIRST CONFERENCE USA TITLE

MURFREESBORO, Tennessee — Western Kentucky senior center Rodney Howard stood in the corner of the MTSU Murphy Center and made no excuses.

Steve Lutz, the Hilltoppers’ first-year head coach, was quick to credit Middle Tennessee State University’s tenacity, its toughness, when it was over.

And while Western Kentucky’s hopes of earning its first Conference USA regular-season championship aren’t necessarily over, they were dealt a devastating blow.

MTSU claimed a hard-fought, 74-72 victory over its traditional rival — we’re talking the Ohio Valley Conference, never mind the Sun Belt — while snapping the Hilltoppers’ impressive five-game winning streak.

A game that the Tops had in their hands, against all odds, in the final two minutes.

“The bottom line,” Lutz said, “is we don’t need to worry about conference championships. We need to worry about playing better.”

Western Kentucky dropped to 19-8 overall and more important, 8-5 in Conference USA with three regular-season games left on the docket. WKU will play host to C-USA co-leader Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night at E.A. Diddle, in the Tops’ final home game of the regular season.

MTSU avenged an 88-65 beatdown at the hands of the Tops on February 3 at Diddle, while improving to 12-16 overall and 6-7 in C-USA play. The Blue Raiders hit 10 of 28 shots from beyond the 3-point line, including a 6-for-13 showing in the second half, and they’re now tied with Jacksonville State (14-14, 6-7) for fourth place in the conference, two games behind the Hilltoppers.

The defeat takes some of the luster off the Tops’ highly anticipated game against Louisiana Tech, but they had no one to blame but themselves.

“We didn’t play our best basketball tonight,” senior WKU center Rodney Howard said. “We had multiple opportunities to finish it. It shouldn’t have come down to the last one or two possessions.”

WKU coach Steve Lutz took that a step further.

“We dropped a game tonight that we had every opportunity to win,” Lutz said. “And for whatever reason, we didn’t come out and play well. Give Middle Tennessee credit, and give (MTSU head coach) Nick (McDevitt) credit … They were tougher than us tonight. They were more athletic than us. They were more physical than us.

“They played harder than us.”

Four Blue Raiders hit two or more 3-pointers, and they seemed to grab every critical loose ball, every rebound that they had to have. McDevitt charged into the middle of the court to fire up the MTSU Murphy Center paid crowd of 5,032 at a critical juncture in the second half, after the Tops used a timeout to stop the bleeding.

“I thought (WKU was) the aggressor to finish the first half,” McDevitt told MTSU media relations. “We talked about that at halftime, how the margin is thin, and we just had to toughen up. We needed to be able to play physical at the basket, get physical, (get) tough rebounds.

“Western’s really good. Steve (Lutz) has done a really good job with that team … They put pressure on you at every spot.”

The Hilltoppers offense was out of sync for much of the first half, but they closed with a 7-0 surge to take a 36-34 lead into the break. MTSU was equally assertive to open the second half, and the Blue Raiders had the lead for more than 34 minutes and change, compared to the Tops’ three.

“We didn’t get any easy baskets because our defense wasn’t very good,” Lutz admitted.

Junior MTSU forward Jared Coleman Jones hit three of four 3-pointers and led the Blue Raiders with 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. MTSU’s Jestin Porter finished with 19 points, four rebounds and three steals, while teammate Elias King added 12 points and four tebounds.

“We fought hard, but we didn’t play hard,” WKU senior center Rodney Howard said. “We just couldn’t get that last basket … we never should have put ourselves in that position.”

Junior WKU guard Don McHenry, the Tops’ scoring leader, had just three points at halftime. But he hit four of five shots in the second half, including field goals on back-to-back possessions to pull the Tops within 72-70 with about three minutes left in the game.

McHenry, who finished with 11 points, hit a runner in the lane before taking WKU teammate Babacar Faye’s inbounds pass and scoring under the MTSU basket to give the Hilltoppers a chance to pull it out.

Faye’s two free throws with 2:18 left in the game tied the score at 72, and the Hilltoppers had multiple possessions in the final minute trailing by just one or two points. Jared Coleman-Jones split on one of two free throws with two seconds on the clock, but Tyrone Marshall’s inbounds pass sailed past Howard near mid-court and the Blue Raiders could savor the victory.

WKU hit just five of 20 points from 3-point range. Brandon Newman led the Hilltoppers with 14 points, but he was 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, while Dontaie Allen, Don McHenry and Rodney Howard each finished with 11 points.

“Our shot selection wasn’t very good tonight,” Lutz said. “Our offensive movement wasn’t very good. We didn’t get easy baskets because our defense wasn’t very good.”

That pretty much covers it.

The Hilltoppers have three games left, including Wednesday’s high-profile matchup with Louisiana Tech, to right the ship before the Conference USA Tournament starting March 12 in Huntsville, Alabama.