The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have finished the regular season as Conference USA’s top team.

The Hilltoppers beat Old Dominion 60-57 on Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena to end the regular season with the best winning percentage among C-USA programs in league play, as well as claim a No. 1 seed for next week’s C-USA Tournament at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, by finishing atop C-USA’s East Division.

“It’s very obvious that it wasn’t easy. Winning championships never are easy and it’s kind of been an unusual year as we all know,” WKU coach Rick Stansbury said. “For the fans, for the players – as I just told them, one day we’re doing a scouting report and come off the floor and find out we’re not playing them and we’re playing somebody else. It’s been a mental adjustment all year long.

“Any time you can put yourself in position to win a championship, that’s very, very special and these guys just found a way. At halftime, we were up three and it wasn’t going to be a whole lot of different things we did differently – we adjusted on a couple different things – but it was going to be the will – who has the strongest will and who can force their will on the other team or the other person, that’s who’s going to win the game.”

C-USA moved to two divisions – East and West – for the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Hilltoppers’ 11-3 record (18-6 overall) against C-USA opponents left it at the top of the league standings entering the postseason for the first time since it won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title in 2009.

WKU entered the weekend series with an opportunity to win the division by beating ODU, but fell 71-69 Friday after a strong second half from the Monarchs and senior point guard Malik Curry. A UAB win over North Texas on Friday allowed the Hilltoppers to clinch the best record across the entire league with Saturday’s win. Louisiana Tech finished as the top team in C-USA’s West Division with a 12-4 record.

“It feels great to accomplish a goal that we set out at the beginning of the year, and that’s one of them that as a team we obviously came together and said we wanted to do,” WKU redshirt senior Carson Williams said. “To be able to accomplish that means something.”

After ODU pulled out the close decision in the first game of the series – WKU had a shot to win it, but Dayvion McKnight’s baseline fadeaway jumper in the final second came up short – the two battled early Saturday. The first 20 minutes featured two ties and nine lead changes, but WKU entered the break ahead 36-33.

Curry carried ODU early with 15 first-half points, after scoring 22 of his 25 points Friday after halftime. The Monarchs started on a 6-0 run, but WKU got hot from deep and connected on five of its first eight 3-point attempts. Luke Frampton and Jordan Rawls connected on back-to-back 3s to put WKU up 21-16 at the 10:39 mark. Frampton and Kevin Osawe connected on 3s shortly after, both of which put the Hilltoppers up by six – their largest lead of the half.

Kalu Ezikpe made a layup over a minute later, and no team led by more than four for the remainder of the half.

WKU jumped ahead by eight with the first five points of the second half, but struggled offensively for much of the remainder. The Hilltoppers went over seven and a half minutes without scoring before Williams made a free throw, and extended the drought without a field goal to 9:44 before a layup from Charles Bassey, but WKU still managed to be down just two at 48-46 at that point.

The Hilltoppers took a lead with Hollingsworth’s 3-pointer following Bassey’s layup, and the two teams traded the lead four times from there, with the final coming with two free throws from Rawls with 4:28 remaining.

ODU tied things at 57-all with 1:28 to play on a make from Curry, but the Hilltoppers kept the following possession alive with three offensive rebounds. After a timeout, Hollingsworth drove to the basket and finished while getting fouled. He made the free throw following a timeout, and ODU was unable to tie the game.

“I’m supposed to be a leader and some of my players are younger players and they look up to me to do things, and to show them that I can do that, I think that means a lot,” Hollingsworth said.

The Monarchs nearly lost possession on their final chance, but got a timeout called with 6.8 seconds left. Kalu Ezikpe got a wide-open look from 3, but his shot bounced off the rim and neither team could gather possession before the clock expired with WKU ahead 60-57.

Hollingsworth finished with 19 points to lead WKU and was the only Hilltopper to score in double figures. Rawls and Frampton each added nine points, and Bassey finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Curry led ODU with 23 points and Jaylin Hunter and Ezikpe each had 10.

The Hilltoppers will open the C-USA Tournament – which begins Tuesday and features all 14 league teams – Thursday at either 5:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m.{&end}