Tops get Rocked, again

Arkansas-Little Rock gets season sweep of Western Kentucky

Friday, February 18, 2005

Two buzzer beaters in a row was just too much to hope for.

Western Kentucky had a chance to beat Arkansas-Little Rock on a last second 3-pointer by Courtney Lee, but the shot was off the mark and the Hilltoppers lost 55-53 Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The win elevated the Trojans (16-8, 8-4 Sun Belt Conference) into a first place tie with WKU atop the SBC East Division.

The Trojans also hold the tiebreaker with the Toppers (18-6, 8-4) after sweeping the regular-season series. So if both teams win out their final two league games, UALR will get the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and Western will get the No. 2 seed.

This was a big game for us that we needed to get and we didnt get it done, WKU coach Darrin Horn said.

The end of the game was eerily similar to Saturdays win at North Texas.

With the score tied at 53-53, UALR scored with just 4.6 seconds left.

Sophomore guard Zack Wright drove into the lane, pump faked twice and dished the ball to Darius Eason, who was streaking to the basket.

Eason slammed the ball home for the game-winning basket.

I threw it and I was like Please be coming, Wright said. Then I look up and he dunks that ball and Im just excited.

Western still had a chance for one final shot.

The Toppers got the ball in to Anthony Winchester, and when he crossed midcourt, Horn began calling for a timeout.

When the clock was stopped, only 1.7 seconds were left and Horn was furious, because he said he called for the timeout sooner.

(The officials) missed the call, Horn said. I was calling timeout and they didnt give it to us. Its really that simple.

But Lee was still able to get off a good shot it just didnt go down.

He was able to elevate and get a fairly clean look at the basket, Horn said. Thats probably about the best you can hope for in that situation.

Overall, it was the worst shooting game of Lees young career. He was 2-of-13 from the floor and 1-of-5 from 3-point range.

I pretty much had a good look at it, it just didnt fall, he said. It was that kind of night.

Wright admitted he was thinking about Winchesters buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the North Texas game and didnt want to lose in similar fashion.

They have great shooters on their team, Wright said. We couldnt leave any of them open. We had to guard all of them. Winchester made that shot at North Texas, and we knew we had to get on him.

Similar to the loss at UALR earlier in the season, Western had a seven-point lead in the second half, but wasnt able to hold on.

Ty Rogers hit a wide open 3-pointer with 7:58 left to put the Toppers ahead 49-42.

Then WKU stopped scoring.

Western went nearly six minutes without a single point. During that stretch, Arkansas-Little Rock ran off nine points five from Wright to take a 51-49 lead.

Winchester ended the drought and tied the score with a jumper at the 2:14 mark.

Eason put UALR back ahead with a tip-in with 51 seconds remaining.

WKU senior Antonio Haynes tied the game once more by driving in for layup on the next possession just before Easons game-winning dunk.

Down the stretch, we didnt make the plays we needed to make and thats why we lost, Winchester said.

Haynes led Western with 13 points and Winchester added 12. Elgrace Wilborn just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

Richard Hardman paced UALR with 12 points, but it was Wright who came up the biggest.

All 11 of Wrights points came in the second half.

He hurt us really bad down the stretch, Horn said. He is a terrific player.

The loss was the first at home this season for either the WKU mens or womens team.

Were very fortunate to get this win on the road, UALR coach Steve Shields said.

Western Kentucky returns to action at 4 p.m. Saturday against Bradley in the final nonconference game of the season. Arkansas-Little Rock plays at Bowling Green State that same day as part of ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday.

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