OVERPOWERED THE HILLTOPPERS INSIDE.
JAX STATE’s MASON NICHOLSON OVERPOWERS WESTERN WITH 20 POINTS, 12 REBOUNDS, THREE BLOCKED SHOTS
Hank Plona, Western Kentucky University’s first-year men’s basketball coach, was in no mood to sugar-coat ANYTHING.
Plona wasn’t angry, mind you, after former WKU coach Ray Harper and the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks strutted out of town with a methodical 73-67 victory on Thursday night before a paid crowd of 2,823 at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Instead, Plona seemed more concerned about the future, as opposed to the immediate past. The Hilltoppers clearly haven’t been the same team, since senior forward Babacar Faye’s knee injury in mid-December, and they’ve struggled with that reality, with Conference USA newcomer Kennesaw State (Georgia) coming to Bowling Green for a Saturday afternoon game.
“That wasn’t the overall performance that we were looking for,” Plona said. “Even when we had a lead there, for a lot of the game. I didn’t think we were playing in a way that resembled when we’ve been successful this year.
“I just said (in an interview with WKU TV-radio man Randy Lee) that I hope this is our lowest valley … and we’re able to use this as a little bit of a wake-up call, that we’re able to turn the corner. We have a lot of areas to improve.
“There’s no breaks in our league, so we need to make that improvement. Very, very fast.”
OUT OF THE GAMECOCKS’ TRAPPING DEFENSE.
TO THE BASKET AGAINST THE GAMECOCKS.
ON A FALLAWAY JUMPER IN THE SECOND HALF.
Western Kentucky dropped to 10-6 overall and 1-2 in Conference USA play. The Hilltoppers have gone 3-3 since Faye limped off the court, after a gritty 81-76 victory over traditional rival Murray State, and they lack the size and muscle to compete with the likes of Jacksonville State center Mason Nicholson.
Nicholson, the 6-foot-10, 280-pound junior center from Gary, Indiana, hit nine of 12 shots for a game-high 20 points, leading five Gamecocks players in double figures, while adding a game-high 12 rebounds and three of JSU’s four blocked shots.
Veteran forward Enoch Kalambay, the Tops’ 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior from Quebec, did his best against the Jax State big man, but it wouldn’t be enough. Kalambay turned in one of the best efforts of his WKU career, leading the Hilltoppers with a team-high 24 points, but the Gamecocks’ rebounding advantage actually told the story.
ON THE TOPS IN THE SECOND HALF.
FIVE POINTS AND EIGHT REBOUNDS.
THREE OF 15 SHOTS FROM THE FIELD.
WITH A CAREER-HIGH 24 POINTS.
Jacksonville State finished with 50 rebounds, to 30 for the Hilltoppers.
“It’s hard to win games, when it’s 50-30 on the glass,” Plona said.
Kalambay agreed.
“We probably should’ve done a better job on rebounding, defending the ball,” Kalambay said. “But I feel like we played hard. We just came up short.”
The Hilltoppers actually had a lead for more than 20 minutes in Thursday night’s game. WKU also took a 27-24 margin into the locker room at halftime. But Quel’Ron House, a freshman from Louisville’s Seneca High School, and the Gamecocks used a deliberate approach to keep the Hilltoppers out of their transition game, and WKU struggled throughout in its half-court offense.
“We didn’t want to get in a track meet with these guys,” Harper told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer’s Jim Pickens outside the JSU locker room. “We wanted to get the ball inside, and make the most of the size advantage that we had, and Mason (Nicholson) did a great job for us in the paint.
“When you’re on the road, in this league, you have to execute and be the more aggressive team.”
FROM THE FIELD IN THE SECOND HALF.
IN THE SECOND HALF THURSDAY NIGHT.
COMPILED A 89-64 OVERALL RECORD
IN FOUR-PLUS SEASONS WITH THE HILLTOPPERS.
Harper, the WKU head coach from 2012-16, defeated the Hilltoppers as an opponent’s coach for the first time in his career. The Gamecocks’ Quel’Ron House hit five of 11 shots, finishing the game with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Jacksonville State improved to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in Conference USA play. The Gamecocks will face Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday evening in Murfreesboro.
“This is a tough, competitive, physical league,” Plona said.
With the athletic 6-foot-8, 215-pound Babacar Faye on the mend, the Hilltoppers have a glaring weakness defensively. WKU newcomers Leeroy Odiahi, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound senior from Ireland, and fellow 6-foot-11 senior Blaise Keita have made limited contributions, and in Thursday’s game, the Hilltoppers’ usually steady backcourt struggled from the perimeter.
Senior WKU guard Don McHenry, the Tops’ leading scorer, hit just 3 of 15 shots while finishing with eight points. He missed all four of his 3-point shots.
Julius Thedford, the Hilltoppers’ freshman guard from Memphis, had 17 points, while senior forward Tyrone Marshall led the team with eight rebounds. But the Gamecocks’ Quel’Ron House broke a 49-49 tie with a stop-and-pop jumper from the lane with about six minutes left, and JSU never surrendered that lead.
WKU made it interesting, in the final couple minutes, and the Hilltoppers trailed by just four points after senior guard Khristian Lander drained a deep 3. They wouldn’t score again, as fate would have it, and first-year WKU head coach Hank Plona and his squad had plenty to think about with Kennesaw State coming to town for Saturday afternoon’s Conference USA game.
Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
“We need Leeroy (Odiahi) and Blaise (Keita) to improve,” Plona said. “We’re going to learn, who we really are … We’ve got to identify what our core issues are, and how to improve.”
AND THE HILLTOPPERS FACE
KENNESAW STATE ON SATURDAY.
AGAINST THE TWO FEMALE DOGS NEXT DOOR.