TOUGHING IT OUT: Short-handed Tops battle past LA Tech for 64-63 win

Published 12:54 am Sunday, February 23, 2025

By Jeff Nations

Toughness made a quick comeback for Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team Saturday night at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Just two days after a lackluster performance on their home floor in a loss to Sam Houston — a season-high fourth straight defeat — the Hilltoppers reverted to the team that it has been for long stretches of this season. With dogged defense and a clutch offensive performance by graduate senior guard Braxton Bayless, the Tops overcame an extremely short-handed roster to upend Conference USA preseason favorite Louisiana Tech 64-63 on Saturday.

Bayless played an outsized role in the needed win, scoring a career-high 27 points. He saved the most important basket for the end, taking the ball the length of the floor in the closing seconds before driving through the lane to score a contested layup that proved the game winner for WKU (15-12 overall, 6-8 CUSA).

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It capped a spectacular night for the Ankeny, Iowa, native, who bested his season-high by nine points and his career high — from his days playing at Buffalo — by six.

“I knew it was coming soon, just the way we practiced,” Bayless said. “We stay resilient and we go hard every day, regardless of the outcome. So I knew it was coming.”

In a back-and-forth second half that featured 10 lead changes, the final minute-plus tested the Tops’ resolve. Amaree Abram (team-high 21 points) drilled a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 58-57 with 1:29 left, but the Tops went back up when senior guard Don McHenry scored on third-chance putback and drew a foul for a three-point play.

Abram answered with another 3-pointer with just 31 seconds to go, but WKU pushed back ahead with Bayless sank a pair of free throws that made it 62-61 with just 28 seconds left.

Louisiana Tech (18-10, 7-8 CUSA) again answered with star forward Daniel Batcho drew a foul in the paint and sank both free throws to put his team up by a point with just  5.4 seconds to go. WKU coach Hank Plona called a timeout after Batcho hit the first to try and ice the 6-11 senior and set up one final play.

That proved to be Bayless taking the inbounds and dashing downcourt for a drive to the rim that turned out to be the game’s final shot.

“Make or miss, we were in the same situation at that point — either tied or down one with five seconds, it was the same exact situation,” Plona said. “So just talked about kind of what we would try to do — can’t let the result of the free throw affect you — and the guys did a great job of executing and pushing that ball down the court. Braxton obviously had a couple different options, but if nobody’s going to stop him then he made the right play.”

The game clock initially ran out after the Bayless bucket, but game officials put 0.4 seconds back on — Louisiana Tech inbounded and seemed to throw the ball away, but another review ensued before it was determined WKU’s Jalen Jackson tipped the ball — thus starting the clock — before the ball went out of bounds. Ballgame, and a win for the Tops.

“Pretty crazy game there,” Plona said. “Any time you’re in one of those games that started out as a defensive rock fight and then by the end it seemed like both teams were scoring going back and forth and some great players were making some great plays, it kind of felt like a 50-50 game. It feels like we’ve been on the wrong side of those here in the last month, so definitely very proud of the guys for showing the mental strength and togetherness to stick through the ups and downs especially when they took the lead.”

The downs were apparent at the outset. Redshirt senior guard Khristian Lander, who missed the second half of the loss two days before to Sam Houston, warmed up but Plona had no intention of playing him as he recovers from a sore back. Senior guard Enoch Kalambay, who sat out the second half of the Sam Houston game, wasn’t even in the building Thursday.

“Enoch is still part of the team — Enoch is family to me,” Plona said. “He was sick a couple weeks ago, just had some ups and downs physically and just as far as just day-to-day making sure that he’s doing what he needs to do to help us win. … Wasn’t going to play tonight. Just want him to get himself mentally ready to go. Yes, he’s still part of the team. Obviously I’ve coached Enoch for four years. Team is family to all of us and team is family to him, too. Just want to make sure he’s at his best. We’re at the point of the season where we need everybody’s best effort in that locker room on that game day.”

WKU used just eight players in Saturday’s win, with McHenry added 14 points and Tyrone Marshall Jr. chipping in with 13 points. Then there were the defensive stars — Bayless for one, but also senior guard Jalen Jackson hounding Louisiana Tech’s Sean Newman Jr. and senior forward Blaise Keita more than holding his own in the paint against Batcho.

The Tops started in on the Bulldogs from the opening tip, forcing a slew of turnovers — 11 in the first half, 14 for the game — to build a 24-19 lead.

Stopping Batcho, a force in CUSA for the past two seasons, was the top priority and WKU was extremely effective at doing just that — Batcho didn’t score for the first 25 minutes of the game and finished with just 10 points along with five rebounds.

“I’d say the main difference was the day between,” McHenry said of the Tops’ defensive effort compared to Thursday’s showing. “The practice we had was heavily, heavily defense. That was our main focus. We let guys score too much and be comfortable, so we had the mindset of for sure having pressure, getting under people and disrupting everything.”

WKU is back in action Thursday at UTEP for the start of the final road trip of the regular season. The Tops will wrap that up with a visit to New Mexico State on Saturday, March 1.

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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