Hilltoppers let one slip away

WKU drops Sun Belt opener at Little Rock

Friday, January 14, 2005

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Having the leagues best pre-conference record didnt help Western Kentucky against Arkansas-Little Rock on Thursday.

The Hilltoppers (10-3 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt Conference) lost their league opener 69-66 to an UALR squad that was coming off a stinging loss to Middle Tennessee.

Arkansas-Little Rock (10-5, 2-1 SBC) lost 85-50 on Monday, but was not intimidated by Westerns impressive record.

Its not all about the record, UALR senior Brandon Freeman said. They put their shorts on just like we do. Anybody can be knocked off.

Western Kentucky had a seven-point lead with 5:23 left, but fell apart down the stretch.

The Toppers went scoreless for over four minutes as UALR took a 62-59 lead on a Zack Graber 3-pointer with 1:45 left.

Down the stretch, if we could have just gotten to the foul line or gotten a couple of better looks, this would have been a whole different game, WKU coach Darrin Horn said. Instead there was a stretch where we didnt score and we were just stuck on 59.

Antonio Haynes cut the deficit to 62-61 at the 1:17 mark, but Zack Wright knifed through the Western defense on the subsequent play and was fouled on a layup attempt.

He hit both free throws, UALR got a defensive stop and Josh Jacobs hit two more foul shots to put the Trojans in control with just 23 seconds left in the game.

They made the plays down the stretch that it takes to win a ballgame, WKU guard Anthony Winchester said. We didnt really run anything on offense. We were just out there running around guys didnt know what was going on.

Arkansas-Little Rock made the comeback without Freeman, the teams best scorer, because he was sidelined with severe leg cramps.

Despite sitting out most of the second half, Freeman still finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

Westerns biggest lead of the game came just over six minutes into the second half when Haynes hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make the score 45-37.

UALR scored the next eight points to tie the game at the 11:04 mark, but Western again pushed the lead back out to seven before the Trojans took over in the final five minutes.

Ive been saying for weeks, Dont be fooled by the 10-2, Horn said. Weve got a lot of young guys with a lot to learn. Little Rock exposed some of that tonight.

WKU had a three-point halftime lead, thanks to a pair of big runs in the first period.

UALR took an early 5-2 advantage before the Toppers scored 11 unanswered points. Courtney Lee started the spurt off with a 3-pointer and Haynes capped it with a layup at the 14:51 mark.

The Trojans took the lead back when Western went cold, though.

After Haynes layup, the Toppers went more than eight minutes with only one field goal and were outscored 14-2 and trailed by four until their second run of the first half.

Elgrace Wilborn hit a jump shot and had an impressive putback dunk as Western outpaced UALR 13-5 to take a four-point lead of their own with 8:23 left in the half.

Freeman brought his team back to within one by hitting a 24-foot, high-arcing shot over Winchester with 1:13 left.

He hit some big shots with guys in his face, Graber said. Great players are going to find a way to score and thats what he did in the first half. He basically carried us, because we didnt have a whole lot of guys getting things going.

Winchester made the last shot of the first half, though, and the Toppers led 32-29 at the break.

Arkansas-Little Rock came into the game as the worst rebounding team in the Sun Belt, but still managed to beat Western 34-28.

They just came out and were tougher than we were, Wilborn said.

Haynes had 17 points to pace a group of four WKU players in double figures. Winchester scored 14, Lee finished with 13 and Wilborn added 12.

Western Kentucky will return to action Saturday against Arkansas State in Jonesboro at 4 p.m.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700