WKU Men’s Basketball fell to rival Middle Tennesse State 87-77 Saturday after a late-game slump allowed MTSU to pull away.
After the Hilltoppers cut the lead to 71-70 with 6:17 to play in the game the Blue Raiders followed with a 10-0 run that drained the game clock to 2:26 and made the score 81-70.
Senior guard Don McHenry led the Hilltoppers with 20, followed by senior guard Khristian Lander with 18, and senior guard Enoch Kalambay with 14.
Senior guard Jylnn Counter had 20 points for the Blue Raiders, however, he only scored two points after the 10:54 mark in the first half. Graduate forward Essam Mostafa led the Blue Raiders with a double-double off 21 points and 16 rebounds.
“He [Mostafa] just seems to clean everything up,” Head Coach Hank Plona said. “He’s so physical. He’s so smart, plays with angles. On offense, obviously, you know, you can try to force him to his weak hand but then he’ll spin and go baseline.”
The Hilltoppers gave up nine turnovers which resulted in 19 points. They were unable to capitalize on any of MTSU’s six turnovers. The battle for the boards was physical and the Hilltoppers were one short of the Blue Raiders 50-49.
“19 off 9 turnovers is just about perfect,” Plona said. “I would think that means our turnovers are probably live-ball turnovers where they’re able to get runouts.”
The loss drops the Hilltoppers to 5-7 in Conference USA.
First Half
Going into the first media timeout, the Hilltoppers led 13-10 after initially going down 7-0. Don McHenry’s eight points helped take the early lead.
The Hilltoppers led 21-20 going into the second media timeout. Enoch Kalambay and McHenry both had eight points with 11:52 left in the half.
The Hilltoppers maintained a one-point lead, 28-27, going into the third media timeout. MTSU guard Jlynn Counter led the Blue Raiders with 18, shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc.
Consecutive Leeroy Odiahi dunks had Diddle roaring, taking the lead to 36-33 with four minutes to play in the half.
Going into the three-minute media timeout, the Hilltoppers led 36-35.
The Hilltoppers trailed 42-39 going into the final media timeout with 1:33 remaining in the half.
The Blue Raiders extended their lead to 44-39 on a Camryn Weston layup.
Second Half
The Hilltoppers called a timeout with 18:28 to after the Blue Raiders came out of halftime on a 6-1 run to take the score to 51-40.
Going into the first media timeout of the half, the Hilltoppers trailed 54-45.
The Blue Raiders led 59-57 at the 12-minute media timeout. A 6-0 run by Lander and Kalambay and four points from Bayless helped to cut the Hilltopper deficit.
Heading into the eight-minute media timeout, the Hilltoppers trailed 60-65.
Plona called a timeout with 2:25 to play in the game as the Hilltoppers allowed the Blue Raiders to go on a 10-0 run, extending the MTSU lead to 81-70.
Going into the final media timeout, the Blue Raiders led 83-75.
MTSU held on for an 87-77 win.
Sports Reporter Nathan Mueller can be reached at nathan.mueller103@topper.wku.edu.
