Diddle Arena roared as graduate guard Braxton Bayless ran down the court with just seconds on the clock.
Bayless, who had the Hilltoppers on his back Saturday with a career-high 27 points, had the ball in his hands as WKU trailed Louisiana Tech 63-62. After he completed his trek from coast to coast, Bayless sunk the game-winning layup with 0.4 seconds left, securing a 64-63 WKU victory.
“Coach (Hank Plona) said ‘We get it, just go. Don’t pass it just look to score,’” Bayless said. “I was going all game.”
Bayless went 11-19 from the field and 3-4 from beyond the arc in his 27-point performance. He played all but two minutes with 38. Senior guard Don McHenry was right behind him in scoring with 14. WKU shot 45% from the field and 31% from three.
The Hilltoppers held the Bulldogs to just 19 in the first half and had a better defensive outing than in Thursday’s loss against Sam Houston. LA Tech shot just 20% from the field and 15% from three in the first half and 37% and 36% on the game.
Plona said two factors for the staunch defense were forwards Blaise Keita and Leeroy Odiahi.
“Blaise Kieta and Leeroy (Odiahi) both did a great job,” Head Coach Hank Plona said. “He (Kieta) was physical with Batcho all night he was physical with those ball handlers he was really pressuring out there, his movements were great.”
The Hilltoppers allowed the Bulldogs to score 23 from the charity stripe on 25 attempts, two of which came from Daniel Batcho with just seven seconds left. The Hilltoppers only attempted seven from the free-throw line.
“He (Batcho) does a very good job at getting to the free throw line,” Plona said. “We can’t let that bother us, is how we have to overcome the disparity.”
The Hilltoppers will travel to El Paso, Texas to take on the UTEP Miners on Thursday.
First Half
Going into the first media timeout the Hilltoppers led 4-0. Bayless was the Hilltopper’s only scorer, with two layups. The Bulldogs were scoreless with 15:45 to play in the half and gave up five turnovers.
The Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to take a 9-6 lead but the Hilltoppers took back a 10-9 lead with 10 minutes to play in the half off McHenry and Bayless layups.
The Hilltoppers led 10-9 going into the second media timeout with 9:48 to play in the half. The Bulldogs gave up seven turnovers in a very physical first 10 minutes.
Heading into the third media timeout the Hilltoppers led 14-13 despite not having hit a 3-pointer in the first 13 minutes of the game. Bayless led the team with six points.
Bayless hit the first shot from beyond the arc on the night for the Hilltoppers with six minutes to play in the half to take a 17-13 lead.
Heading into the final media timeout of the half the Hilltoppers led 20-15. The Bulldogs only sunk one of their eight field goals going into the timeout, shooting 4-20 on the night.
The Hilltoppers took a 24-19 lead into halftime.
Second Half
Heading into the first media timeout of the second half, the Hilltoppers led 32-29. WKU struggled from beyond the arc shooting only 2-11.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 34-34 on a dunk from Kaden Cooper with 14:50 to play. The Hilltoppers responded with a Tyrone Marshall Jr. 3-pointer that had Diddle roaring taking a 37-34 lead with 14:27 to play.
LA Tech called a timeout with 12:01 to play in the half, trailing 37-36. Some pushing and shoving between WKU’s Jalen Jackson and Batcho delayed the return to play.
A personal foul on Jackson brought the game to the second media timeout of the half with 11:58 to play. The Hilltoppers led 37-36.
The Hilltoppers called a timeout with 10:05 to play, trailing 41-39. The Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run taking a 41-37 lead. McHenry hit a layup right before Plona called the timeout.
A defensive rebound by Marshall Jr. led to a three from Bayless giving WKU a 44-43 lead.
Heading into the third media timeout of the half, the Hilltoppers trailed 45-44. The Bulldogs hit two free throws heading into the timeout. They had shot 18 free throws while the Hilltoppers only had two attempts from the free-throw line.
Jackson hyped up the crowd on every possession as the Hilltoppers went on a quick 8-2 run and took a 53-48 lead with 4:21 to play.
Heading into the final media timeout the Hilltoppers led 53-51, led by Bayless with 21 points.
Bayless eclipsed his career-high with 23 points on a jumper that pushed the lead to 57-53.
Diddle roared back to life as McHenry sank a layup and was fouled, pushing the lead to 60-58. The Bulldogs responded with an Amaree Abram 3-pointer taking a 61-60 lead with 0:32 seconds to play.
Bayless hit two free throws with just 27 seconds remaining. Those attempts were just the sixth and seventh from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs called a timeout with 24 seconds to play trailing 62-61.
Kieta fouled Batcho with 5.4 seconds to play. Batcho sank one free throw before Plona called a timeout between attempts. Bancho sank the second free throw putting LA Tech up 63-62.
Bayless rushed down the court with just five seconds on the clock to sink a driving layup. Just 0.4 seconds remained for the Bulldogs to respond, after a review of the final play it was determined that Jalen Jackson tipped the ball on the inbound running the final fractions of a second off the clock securing the Hilltoppers win 64-63.
Sports Reporter Nathan Mueller can be reached at nathan.mueller103@topper.wku.edu.
