Tops turn tables on UTEP, win 78-74

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BOWLING GREEN — The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers fought fire with fire on Thursday night.

Facing one of the nation’s best defensive teams, WKU turned the tables on visiting UTEP and upended the Miners 78-74 in E.A. Diddle Arena — continuing their overall dominance of a proud program that won the 1966 NCAA Championship when they were known as Texas Western.

WKU improved to 13-8 overall and 4-4 in Conference USA, while the Miners — who lead the nation in forced turnovers — slipped to 15-6 in all games and 5-3 within the league. The Hilltoppers are 12-2 all time versus UTEP.

“That was a very good basketball team we played tonight, and I thought our guys really responded the right way,” WKU first-year head coach Hank Plona said. “To get to the top of the league standings you have to beat good teams and protect your home court, and we were able to do that in this one.

“We’re moving in the right direction and we’ll keep getting better. We’re doing a better job of being disciplined at both ends of the court, and we’re making that extra pass to take quality shots at the offensive end — we’ll keep improving as the season rolls along.”

It was tough, physical grind the whole way, and UTEP went on a 9-4 spurt to move in front 68-66 following a layup by Otis Frazier with 3:05 to play.

But Khristian Lander and Don McHenry combined for every point in a stupendous 10-3 run that pushed the Hilltoppers in front 76-71 with 14.9 seconds to play.

UTEP pulled within 76-74 on a conventional three-point conversion by David Terrell with 10.8 seconds to go, but WKU’s Tyrone Marshall got behind the Miners’ defense for a breakaway layup with 5.5 seconds to play to seal the deal.

“I was pretty pleased with our defense the whole way,” Plona said. “We have guys on our team with championship pedigrees and they’ve been solid in terms of defense and rebounding the entire season.

“Offensively,, that’s three halves of basketball in a row where we’ve really shot the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tops-turn-tables-utep-win-101700229.html

Author : Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Publish date : 2025-01-31 10:17:00

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