Jim Mashek

WKU TAKES 11-8 OVERALL RECORD ON THREE-GAME ROAD SWING; LIBERTY REMAINS UNBEATEN IN CONFERENCE USA

Hank Plona, the second-year Western Kentucky men’s basketball coach, had seen this movie before.

Several times, it seems.

“That’s a tough day at the office, right there,” Plona said in the aftermath of Liberty University’s skillful 75-69 bictory over the HIlltoppers on Wednesday night before a paid crowd of 3,512 at WKU’s historic E.A. DIddle Arena. “(Liberty) is a very good team … We had a couple cold stretches …

“We have a long way to go, as a basketball team.”

Western Kentucky dropped to 11-8 overall and 4-4 in Conference USA, heading into a three-game road swing starting on Saturday against Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. The Flames, meanwhile, remained unbeaten in eight C-USA games. They’ll take a 16-3 overall record, and a 10-game winning streak, into Saturday’s home game against C-USA newcomer Delaware in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Ritchie McKay, Liberty’s 13th-year coach, guided the Flames to a C-USA championship and a 28-7 season last year, finishing regular-season play with a 90-61 romp over the Hilltoppers at Diddle Arena.

This one would have to be earned.

“Their elite level of passing is remarkable,” WKU coach Hank Plonsa said. “…Once you make four passes, and you do scramble, and you get three recoveries, and the ball keeps going …

“It can be deflating.”

Liberty was led by senior guard Kaden Metheny, a 24-year-old graduate student who began his college career at Bowling Green State of the Mid-American Conference.

Metheny played nearly 37 minutes for the Flames, not a particularly deep team, and he finished with a team-high 19 points — hitting five of seven shots from 3-point range — along with five rebounds, six assists and two steals.

The Flames hit 17 of 29 shots from 3-point range, including a 66.6 percent (8 of 12) showing in the second half, to turn back the Hilltoppers down the stretch. Western Kentucky led for about four minutes in the second half, but the Flames began to pull away in the game’s final 10 minutes.

Still, the Tops found themselves within striking distance.

And for one brief moment, in the game’s final minute, the Tops seemed to have tied the game at 70.

Instead, WKU guard Ryan Myers’ 3-pointer from the right wing was waved off, as Hilltoppers teammate Grant Newell was whistled for a moving screen.

That struck Plona as rather ironic, with the Hilltoppers giving up the decisive 3-pointer at the buzzer with the benefit of what looked like a moving screen.

Just not to the officials working that game, in an 82-81 loss to Tulsa on January 19 at Diddle Arena.

“You don’t see that, often, called,” Plona said. “It was a focus, for us, to screen very physical. They have one player who sticks his elbow out, every time he screens … That happens in college basketball.

“I thought the loss to Tulsa was tough, because I thought that was pretty blatant. I don’t know what this one looked like.”

Metheny and his Liberty teammates are adept at moving the ball around the perimeter and finding a man wide open for a 3-point field goal — often five or six feet beyond the 3-point line. The Flames had four players — Metheny, Brett Decker, J.J. Harper and Colin Porter — finish with as many as three 3-pointers.

“They never stop moving,” WKU guard Armelo Boone said. “They move, they move, they set screens, they set flair screens … “

Boone, the WKU freshman from Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School, turned in a strong overall effort, finishing the game with 13 points, a team- and game-high 13 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Teagan Moore, the Hilltoppers’ leading scorer, scored 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Moore struggled at the free-throw line, going 6 for 10, and the Tops shot just 65 percent from the foul line.

WKU’s Grant Newell delivered 16 points in just 22 minutes on the floor, while teammate Ryan Myers added 14 points.

Liberty’s J.J. Harper had 16 points, while teammates Brett Decker, Jr. had 15 points while Colin Porter added 11.

Western Kentucky begins a three-game road swing on Saturday afternoon against Sam Houston State (12-7 overall, 4-4 in C-USA) in Huntsville, Texas, followed by trips to Kennesaw State (Georgia) and traditional rival Middle Tennessee State.

“We’ve got to just stay together, locked in, focused,” WKU guard Armelo Boone said.

WKU coach Hank Plona is looking for more precision on the offensive end of the floor.

“We have to be more efficient in the offensive game,” Plona said. “We need to play with our backs against the wall. That seems to be when we play at our best …

“(Liberty) is gonna be an even better team, in two months …”

The Conference USA Tournament again will unfold in Huntsville, Alabama, in the second week of March.