Tops start hot, finish strong to beat FIU 76-67

Published 1:01 am Friday, March 7, 2025

By Jeff Nations

Don McHenry turned the tap on full blast in the first half of Thursday’s matchup against Florida International at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The senior guard unloaded field goals like a fire hose for 20 minutes against the Panthers. And when McHenry’s offense slowed to more of a dribble in the second half, graduate senior guard Khristian Lander was ready as the matching faucet to keep the offense flowing in the Hilltoppers’ 76-67 win.

McHenry scored 18 of team-high 20 points in the first half, while Lander scored 18 of his 19 total points in the second half.

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“It seemed like probably Don in the first half a little bit and then Khristian in the second half were kind of the lead guys,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “I think that when you have a couple multiple options that can score at the rim and from 3, it can be tough to guard. I didn’t think Don turned it off in the second half. He missed a couple open looks that he had, it seemed like, but it seemed like he got more attention and that allowed Khristian to both off the ball hit some shots and on the ball make some plays. He had a couple good defensive plays too, where we were sinking in.”

WKU (17-13 overall, 8-9 Conference USA) kept alive its hopes of finishing in the top six in the conference standings — doing so would make the postseason path much easier for the Hilltoppers, who would avoid a first-round game Tuesday and gain two extra days of rest before tipping off Thursday in the quarterfinals at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Tops can secure that No. 6 seed by beating Liberty on Saturday in the home finale at Diddle, combined with a Louisiana Tech loss. WKU can also reach the top six in various other scenarios, but nothing is locked down the final day of CUSA league play is complete.

Beating FIU (9-21, 3-14) was a necessary step in achieving that coveted top-six spot. McHenry and Tyrone Marshall Jr. got the Tops rolling early. Marshall hit the first of five WKU 3-pointers in the first five minutes — McHenry hit a pair, then Marshall drilled another before Braxton Bayless sank one as well to help build a 15-4 lead at the first media break.

The Panthers surged back, outscoring the Tops 8-1 over the next two minutes to pull within four. WKU pushed the lead back out to eight, but another FIU run narrowed the gap to 23-20. WKU answered with a 10-1 run of its own capped by McHenry’s fourth 3 of the half to stretch its lead to 36-26, but the Panthers came up with another 9-1 spurt to get within one at 39-38 by halftime.

The Tops, who hit nine of their 12 3-pointers in the first half, held onto the lead despite getting outrebounded 26-11 in the first 20 minutes as every long rebound seemed to end up in the hands of an FIU player.

“It was good to see some shots fall and get out to an early lead and kind of try to build off that,” said McHenry, who added a season-high five assists.

The Panthers took their first lead of the game on a Dashon Gittens layup just 11 seconds into the second half, and FIU led by five at 45-40 after Vianney Salatchoum (game-high 21 points) hit a pair of free throws. The Tops responded with a 10-0 run, with Lander capping the surge with a layup off his steal.

The Panthers twice cut the margin to three points, but WKU got some separation when Lander hit a 3 and Bayless knocked down a jumper to make the score 60-52 with 8:20 to play.

FIU never got closer than six the rest of the way.

“I’m obviously very happy to get the win tonight,” Plona said. “Any game in March is always going to be a very hard-fought game, and I think it’s easy to maybe assume that a home game against a team that’s had some ups and downs this year is going to be easy. We were very aware going into the game that that was not going to be the case. FIU has been playing very good basketball. They played very hard tonight. They gave us some real problems there on the glass in the first half for sure with their toughness and aggressiveness.

“I was happy to see in that second half that we responded, played well and played together. We outrebounded them in the second half and continued to guard their primary players.”

Jayden Brewer added 14 points and Gittens had 11 for FIU.

Marshall just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds along with four assists, and Bayless added 10 points in the win. Lander had four steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists in addition to his 19 points.

WKU wraps up the regular season at home Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup against Liberty. ESPN+ is set to broadcast the game, which is Senior Day for the Hilltoppers.

POSTSEASON SCRAMBLE

McHenry said the team is aware of the close race for the No. 6 seed in next week’s USA tournament.

“We’re staying in the moment, we’re trying to win every game,” McHenry said. “However the pieces fall, we’re going to be in that moment and be the best version of ourselves and do what we’ve got to do get a W.”

The simplest solution for WKU is for the Hilltoppers to beat Liberty on Saturday and Louisiana Tech to lose at home to UTEP. That would lock up the No. 6 seed for the Tops.

WKU would also earn the No. 6 seed with a win against Liberty and a Louisiana Tech win, provided Kennesaw State beats Jacksonville State on Saturday. Even if both the Tops and Louisiana Tech lose Saturday, the No. 6 seed would go to WKU since that would force a three-way tie with UTEP and the Tops would hold the best record in head-to-heads among the three at 3-1.

The Tops could still drop to the No. 7 seed if Kennesaw State loses its Saturday road game at Jax State, even if the Tops win — if LA Tech also wins in that scenario. That would drop Kennesaw State into a three-way tie with WKU and LA Tech. The Owls would be the No. 5 seed based on head-to-head results against the Tops and Bulldogs, while LA Tech would get the No. 6 seed after splitting with Jax State, which would be the CUSA regular-season champion with a win Saturday.

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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