Hilltoppers survive ‘hard-fought’ battle with Marshall

Published 6:41 am Sunday, December 1, 2024

by Micheal Compton

Marshall was a rivalry Western Kentucky men’s basketball coach Hank Plona wanted to renew to help find the kind of competition that would prepare his team for conference play and the postseason.

The Hilltoppers certainly received that test on Saturday, with Marshall seemingly answering WKU every time until a late surge that served as a catalyst for a 90-82 win at E.A. Diddle Arena.

WKU (4-3) bounced back from a tough shooting night at Kentucky on Tuesday with a balanced — and potent — offensive attack. Five players finished scoring in double figures as the Hilltoppers shot 58% from the field.

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“A hard-fought game against a very good opponent,” Plona said. “Give Marshall a lot of credit. They kept fighting back. They certainly caused us some struggles on the defensive side. I thought they did a great job scoring the basketball and moving the ball and passing. Their team is getting better fast. We saw that on film. I thought they played very well tonight. It was definitely a hard-fought win for our team and I am proud of our guys to be able to battle all night and pull out a win.”

Even with a strong offensive night, WKU needed a push in the final five minutes to finally put away its old Conference USA rival.

WKU jumped out a 9-0 lead less than five minutes in, but Marshall (4-3) quickly climbed back in the game scoring eight out of the next 10 points.

The Hilltoppers remained in front until Marshall’s Mikal Dawson sparked the Thundering Herd from long range. Dawson hit three straight 3-pointers to push Marshall in front 27-22. WKU was able to regroup and held a 36-34 advantage after a 3 from Julius Thedford with 1:06 left in the half, before Dawson struck again with a pair of 3s in the final 37 seconds to give Marshall a 40-36 halftime lead.

Dawson finished the first half with six 3s.

“I thought the 3 he made in front of our bench at the end of the first half was a huge shot,” Plona said. “That’s one of those you do not want to go into halftime allowing that. When one guy goes in with 18 of the 40 at halftime you certainly have to make that priority number one.”

Marshall’s lead extended to 44-38 after a layup from Cade Gibbs less than two minutes into the second half. A few minutes later, Tyrone Marshall, Jr. provided an offensive spark that propelled the Hilltoppers back into the lead.

Marshall scored nine points during a 16-0 run that gave WKU a 60-48 advantage with 13:48 remaining.

Once again the Thundering Herd had an answer. Marshall scored 10 straight to get within striking distance — regaining the lead on a layup by Obinna Anochili-Killen with 7:35 remaining.

A 3 from Tyrone Marshall put WKU back in front — with the margin growing to 76-72 with less than five minutes left.

Babacar Faye finally gave WKU some comfortable distance with buckets in the paint on back-to-back possessions that pushed the advantage to 80-72 with 3:14 remaining.

“You just got to stay in the moment,” Faye said. “At some point we were up by 12 or 13 and they came back to like three. I just came in and started knocking down the shots I was getting.”

Marshall was unable to get closer than four the rest of the way.

Thedford led the Hilltoppers in scoring for a second straight game with 19 points, but Plona was also pleased with his defense — holding Dawson without a 3 in the second half.

“He’s special,” Plona said. “Since he got here in June, I can’t tell you I am shocked by what we are seeing. He is fearless. There is certainly no moment or situation or game that is too big for him or makes him hesitate or be nervous. Those jump shots he made in the first half … kind of kept us in the game.

“He’s a very good defensive player. He was guarding (Dawson). I think his offense started slowing down a little in the second half because we started moving the ball a little better, but also because he was on (Dawson). He wants to be the guy.”

Marshall added 18 points for the Tops, 16 in the second half. Faye tallied 14 points, while Khristian Lander added 13 points and Jalen Jackson contributed with 10 points off the bench.

“We wanted to bounce back and show our fans that we got it,” Marshall said. “We had ups and downs at Kentucky, but here we wanted to show to our fans that we are still the team we said we were at the beginning of the year. It definitely felt good to get a win at home with our fans here.”

Dawson finished with a game-high 28 points. Martin added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Ryan Nutter finished with 12 points.

WKU will return to action at Evansville at 1 p.m. on Dec. 7.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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