Nothing was clicking offensively for WKU Men’s Basketball Saturday as it fell 65-47 at New Mexico State.
All 10 dressed Hilltoppers took the court in Las Cruces, however, only two had double-digit points in senior forward Tyrone Marshall Jr., with 16, and senior guard Don McHenry, with 10. Only four Hilltoppers had above three points.
As a team, the Hilltoppers shot 27% on the game while securing only two offensive rebounds and just one second chance point.
The Hilltoppers were shut down in the paint all game, only scoring six points in the paint compared to the Aggie’s 24.
The Aggies didn’t do anything groundbreaking on offense, shooting just 37% and 24% from beyond the arc.
Through the final 9:15, the Aggies didn’t shoot a single field goal, scoring eight points only from free throws. In that time, however, the Hilltoppers scored just eight points. Graduate forward Peter Filipovity led the Aggies with 16 points.
First Half
Heading into the first media timeout the Hilltoppers trailed 16-8. The Aggies hadn’t missed a shot to this point, shooting 7-7.
The Hilltoppers cut their deficit to 16-14 between media timeouts, taking a 6-0 run into the second media timeout.
Heading into the third media timeout, neither team had scored in two and a half minutes. The Aggies led 21-15 with 7:35 to play.
WKU Head Coach Hank Plona called a timeout with 5:58 to play. After the eight-minute media timeout, the Aggies went on a 7-0 run taking a 26-15 lead. At that point in the game, the Aggies had 17 rebounds to the Hilltoppers’ seven.
A Marshall Jr. 3-pointer with 2:57 to play in the half ended a seven-minute Hilltopper scoring drought cutting the deficit to 29-18.
Heading into Halftime, the Hilltoppers trailed 34-20. WKU shot only 27% in the first half, did not have a single offensive rebound, and gave up seven turnovers.
Second Half
Heading into the first media timeout of the second half, the Aggies led 43-25 after scoring on each of their first four possessions of the half.
The Hilltoppers cut their deficit to 46-31. Two big 3-pointers from senior guard Khristian Lander and Marshall shook some life into a dormant WKU offense.
The Aggies brought a 49-34 lead into the 12-minute media timeout. The Aggies went 0-5 on their recent FG attempts and went scoreless in the previous four minutes but the Hilltoppers couldn’t capitalize, only scoring three between media timeouts.
Plona called a timeout with 9:14 to play, down 57-39.
Heading into the eight-minute media timeout the Aggies led 59-39.
Heading into the final media timeout of the game the Aggies led 63-42.
The Aggies beat the Hilltoppers 65-47.
WKU will look to bounce back at home against FIU on Thursday, March 6. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Sports Reporter Nathan Mueller can be reached at nathan.mueller103@topper.wku.edu.
