FRISCO, TEXAS – A second straight comeback wasn’t in the cards for the Western Kentucky men’s basketball team, which bowed out of the Conference USA Tournament with a 75-51 loss to top-seeded Florida Atlantic on Thursday at The Star.

WKU (17-16) stayed in striking distance for a half before FAU blew things open to end the Hilltoppers’ season filled with adversity and potential offseason questions.

That includes the status of seventh-year head coach Rick Stansbury, who missed nine games due to a health issue. Asked if he expected to be back at WKU next season, Stansbury said he will discuss the situation with WKU athletic director Todd Stewart.

“I’m gonna do this,” Stansbury said. “When we get back, I’m gonna sit down and visit with Todd and we will make a decision of what’s best for everybody.”

For a second straight night WKU’s offense struggled at the start, but unlike Wednesday’s come-from-behind win the Toppers were never able to get fully going – shooting 27.3% from the field.

After a 3-pointer from Emmanual Akot briefly gave the Hilltoppers a 3-2 lead, WKU went hit one of its next 16 shots during a nine-minute stretch. Turnovers kept Florida Atlantic from getting separation, but the Owls were still able to build a 14-5 lead.

Dayvion McKnight scored five straight for WKU to get the offense going, but FAU started to heat up as well – pushing the lead to 28-13.

“It was one of those games where in the first half we had plenty of opportunities to get a lead,” Stansbury said. “Neither team could score. I think we really got discombobulated bad when (Jamarion Sharp) goes out. We had to start the game with (Jordan) Rawls instead of Jairus (Hamilton). Didn’t know if Jairus could go or not go. We didn’t function well. We didn’t function very well from the get-go.”

WKU scored seven straight to cut the deficit to eight, but Nick Boyd’s putback gave the Owls a 30-20 lead with a Hamilton technical foul during the play assessed at the start of the second half.

“Jairus said he was talking to one of our teammates,” Stansbury said. “Said something vocally to his teammate because they got that tip back. It was an eight-point game when they got that tip back. He said something to his teammate and the ref thought he was talking to him and called a technical.”

Florida Atlantic hit the technical free throws and quickly added six more points to make the score 38-20. The Owls shot 50% in the second half, including five 3s, as the lead continued to grow.

The deficit eclipsed 20 points when Boyd’s 3 made the score 44-23 and got as high as 32 points in the final minutes.

“You’re down 18, probably the first two minutes of the second half,” Stansbury said. “That was kind of the game at that point. We dug ourselves a hole down 18 and from there on it was kind of a scramble.”

McKnight led the Hilltoppers with 18 points.

“It was a very hard season,” McKnight said. “Coach going out, some things that happened. I’m just glad the guys stayed together through it all – the ups and downs. It wasn’t the season we wanted, but it’s all good.”

Rawls added 12 points starting in place of Hamilton, who suffered an ankle injury in Wednesday’s win over UTEP, while Dontaie Allen finished with 11 points.

“Our entire team went through it, but all the guys stayed strong for each other and the program,” Allen said. ”I think all of us are going to go into the summer and work as hard as we can.”

The loss ends a season that was as up and down as WKU’s final record. Allen missed seven games early in the season with an eligibility issue from his time playing at Kentucky, but WKU started 8-1 until a loss to at the time winless Louisville. After a loss to South Carolina, Stansbury missed the next nine games with WKU going 3-6 under associate head coach Phil Cunningham.

Senior sharp-shooter Luke Frampton suffered a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 21 against Charlotte. Akot, Sharp and Rawls also missed time with injuries at different points in the season.

“From the get-go, things never really landed real smooth,” Stansbury said. “I put the team in a bad position. As I’ve said many times, the coaches did a great job. The players did a great job staying together, but missing the first nine games of conference play … that’s hard on those guys. They deserve a lot of credit. Coaches deserve a lot of credit for the job they did.

“The players stayed together and then we lost Luke. We all know he was a tough guy. He was the leader in taking charges. He was real cerebral too. … That’s part of basketball. When one guy goes down, the next guy’s gotta step up.”{&end}