Jim Mashek

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE CLAIMS 87-77 VICTORY OVER STRUGGLING TOPS

They were hanging with perhaps the most complete team in Conference USA men’s basketball, and on this night, they may have been poised to strike for the upset.

For awhile.

Western Kentucky University drew a crowd of 4,647 at historic E.A. Diddle Arena, impressive considering the fact that nearly five inches of rain fell in Bowling Green on Saturday.

Long before game’s end, though, the majority of fans on hand for the Hilltoppers’ matchup with Middle Tennessee State on Saturday night were on their way to the parking structures, looking to beat the flood-like conditions surrounding Bowling Green and the entire state.

When WKU senior guard Khristian Lander scored on a put-back with 6:19 left in the game, the Tops actually trailed MTSU by just a single point, 71-70. It was an energized crowd, against a traditional rival like MTSU. The Blue Raiders had enjoyed the upper hand for most of Saturday’s Conference USA contest, but Western Kentucky scrambled its way back into contention.

Just as quickly, though, the Blue Raiders took the air out of that balloon, and Western Kentucky stumbled to an 87-77 defeat, its third consecutive loss in Conference USA play

MTSU closed the game with a 16-7 run over the final six minutes and change.

The Hilltoppers (14-11 overall, 5-7 in C-USA) have not been the same team since senior forward Babacar Faye injured his right knee in an impressive mid-December victory over another traditional rival, Murray State University. First-year WKU head coach Hank Plona said no decision has been made on whether Faye can return for the stretch run of the season, or petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt that would allow him to return for the 2025-26 season.

“We haven’t had that ‘final’ conversation,” Plona said when it was over.

MTSU (17-6 overall, 8-4 in C-USA) completed a rare two-game sweep over the Hilltoppers, who broke an equally rare 11-year drought from NCAA Tournament play just 11 months ago. That WKU team got hot at the right time — namely, of course, the Conference USA Tournament in Huntsville, Alabama — but it’s the Blue Raiders who have the look of a contender this year.

MTSU trails only Jacksonville State (10-3 in C-USA play) and Liberty (9-4 after four consecutive league victories) in the conference standings, and the Blue Raiders have a very capable offensive squad, one that shot 50 percent in the second half, including a 44.1-mark (4 of 9 shots) from 3-point range. There were 12 lead changes, and six ties, before MTSU 35 maintained its lead over the final 20 minutes.

“They’re a very good basketball team,” Plona said. “When you play at Diddle, you feel like you should be the team that makes the move, late … That’s a tough one, right there.”

MTSU’s Jlynn Counter carried his team in the first half, hitting some deep 3-pointers while scoring 18 of his 20 points for the game. Blue Raiders teammate Camryn Weston assumed that role in the second half, and he finished the game with 21 points (6-of-18 shooting), seven assists and four rebounds.

The Blue Raiders put three players in double figures for the first time since the 2019-20 season, as senior center Essam Mustafa dominated inside with 21 points, 16 REBOUNDS, and one of MTSU’s six blocked shots. Plona got some decent minutes out of his two available big men, senior WKU center LeeRoy Odiahi (six points, three rebounds, two blocks in 19 minutes) and teammate Blaise Keita (two points, a team-high 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes).

But the Hilltoppers had to play primarily with a smaller lineup in the second half, trying to play catch-up with the polished, poised Blue Raiders. It was the 100th career victory for MTSU coach Nick McDeavitt, who succeeded Kermit Davis after the 2017-18 season. McDevitt is still looking for this first NCAA Tournament berth, something Davis did three times in his last six seasons on the Blue Raiders’ bench.

“Physically, they attacked us, at the beginning of the game,” Plona said. “Right when you feel you can focus on one (MTSU) guy, another one would come through … we had a great crowd tonight. I feel disappointed for everybody.”

Senior guard Don McHenry, the Tops’ senior All-C-USA guard, led the team with 20 points, five rebounds and two-assists. Senior guard Khristian Lander turned in a strong effort and had 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while WKU teammates Enoch Kalambay and Braxton Bayless added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

“I just think they were getting to loose balls faster than us, getting offensive rebounds that we shouldn’t have been letting happen,” Lander said. “We’ve just got to keep trying to get better, every day.”

WKU will play four of its final six regular-season games inside E.A. Diddle Arena, including Thursday’s matchup with Sam Houston State. The Tops had one of their best efforts in Conference USA play earlier this year against Sam Houston, winning 75-66 in Huntsville, Texas on January 25.

“There’s no magic solution to any of this stuff,” Plona said. “If we’re able to kind of keep our group together — there’s some teams that kind of fold at the end. It’s a brutally long season now and the teams that embrace that and the teams that stick together, the teams that take the floor and want to get after it and want to improve and want to get better, those are the ones that on March 11 are usually a lot better than on February 11.

“It’s one day at a time.”