Alex Slitz/Daily News Western Kentucky fans greet Western Kentucky Hilltoppers guard Brandon Harris (12) during a pep rally before the Hilltoppers take on Kansas University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Sprint Center, Friday, March 22, in Kansas City, Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Hilltoppers were there all along, playing with top-seeded Kansas for 35 minutes.

Then, the shots began to clang and clatter off the rim. The Jayhawks pulled away, and a chance at history faded into the night.

When the final horn sounded, Western Kentucky was on the short end of a 64-57 score and made a second-round exit out of the NCAA tournament.

“I’d like to say how proud I am of these guys,” WKU coach Ray Harper said. “The entire country got a glimpse of what we’re made of.”

For the game, WKU shot 21 of 66 from the field. In the second half, they were 8 of 39.

Kansas (30-5) placed the opportunity there for the taking. The Tops couldn’t get their hands on it.

“Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in for you,” WKU point guard Jamal Crook said. “I thought we had some good looks. I thought we had some great looks, but it just didn’t fall for us.”

It was the final game for seniors Crook and walk-on Marcus Vasquez. Crook finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Vasquez came in to provide defensive help in the waning moments.

Western Kentucky ended its season at 20-16, losing to a No. 1 seed for the second straight year.

The Hilltoppers hung tough early, going up 5-2 on a T.J. Price 3-pointer and George Fant layup. Kansas got six of its first eight from Jeff Withey on its way to an 8-7 lead at the game’s first break in action.

Western Kentucky still wouldn’t go away, even after Ben McLemore caught an inbound lob from Elijah Johnson and slammed home two points to make it 14-12.

Fant came back with a layup and a jumper from the top of the key, making it 16-14 and forcing a KU timeout.

The Jayhawks came out of the timeout and promptly turned it over against the WKU press into the hands of O’Karo Akamune, who found Crook for an easy layup. On the next WKU possession, Crook found a streaking Aleksejs Rostov cutting on an inbound play for a two-handed jam that made it 20-16.

The Tops couldn’t pull away much further than that, but even when Johnson gave Kansas a 28-27 lead on a three-point play, Crook came storming back down the court and split the defense for an easy layup to make it 29-28.

Crook’s final basket of the half was another tough layup that banked in and gave WKU a 31-30 lead going into the locker room.

Kansas came out of the locker room and immediately took control with Kevin Young’s offensive rebound, drive to the hole and reverse, two-handed slam. Travis Releford then finished a lob from McLemore to make it 34-31, inducing a WKU timeout and bringing the partisan crowd to a fever pitch.

The Jayhawks stretched that lead to 38-33 on Withey’s jumper from the top of the key. The Hilltoppers started the half 1 of 12 from the floor before Crook put back his own shot to make it 40-37.

Kansas stretched it back out to a six-point lead with a strong bucket from Withey at 47-41.

The Jayhawks pulled away from there as WKU continued to miss shots. At one point, the Tops missed nine in a row.

Kansas took advantage and eventually got the lead to 10 with 3:49 to play on another strong Withey bucket in the paint to make it 52-42.

The Hilltoppers didn’t have enough left, getting as close as 59-55.

Price finished with 12 points on 3 of 13 shooting. Rostov had 11 and Fant ended up with 10 and two rebounds before fouling out with 5:37 to go.

Withey had 17, seven blocks and six rebounds. McLemore and Releford added 11 each for Kansas, which advances to meet North Carolina on Sunday.