Dec. 18, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - It took Western Kentucky's Hilltoppers more than 30 minutes to take control of a rugged matchup with Southern Mississippi at home Wednesday (Dec. 18) evening at home in E.A. Diddle Arena.
But, with just under eight minutes to play, and clinging to a precarious 51-49 advantage, the Toppers did just that, outscoring the Golden Eagles 13-5 down the stretch to improve to 4-3 on the young season, extending their current home-court winning streak to 26 games. The result was a 64-54 WKU victory.
A free-throw by center Nate Williams, followed by a pair of dunks by the 6-8 senior from Raleigh, N.C., and a three by sophomore guard Patrick Sparks put the Hilltoppers up 59-49 with just under five minutes to go and WKU held the Eagles off the rest of the way to take the victory and deal Southern Miss (5-3) its third straight setback.
But, it was a 40-minute war as both teams took turns shooting well, rebounding well and maintaining control of the contest.
Western scored nine of the first 10 points in the game, but USM bounced right back to tally the next 13 counters to go on top 13-9 on a jumper by Charles Gaines at 12:18. From that point on, neither club could build more than a four-point lead until the Eagles opened play in the second half making their first four shots to pull out to a 37-32 advantage (USM?s big lead of the game) on a jumper by Clement Carter at 17:29.
But, from that point on, the Hilltopper defense blended in with improved Western rebounding to limit the Eagles to 4-20 shooting (20%) shooting from the field in the final 17 minutes of action. Meanwhile, the Toppers improved on their first half shooting (42.3% - 11-26) to make good on 13 of 25 shots (52%) in the final 20 minutes of play.
For the second contest in a row, Williams paced the Toppers, this time with 19 counters, just one shy of the career-high 20 he put on the board in Sunday's 63-43 home victory over Illinois State. But, the big difference this time for Williams was his second half rebounding. He led the Toppers at the intermission with 10 points, but had come up with just one board. When the dust settled and the scoreboard read Western 64, Southern Miss 54, Williams went to the lockerroom with nine rebounds - eight in the second period and four of those in those crucial final eight minutes of action.
Sparks (15) and David Boyden (12) each posted double-figure scoring efforts for Western and Sparks added game-highs for both assists (6) and steals (4).
Gaines paced the Eagles with 17 counters, 14 of those in the first half.
The Hilltoppers return to action Friday (Dec. 20) evening, taking on St. Francis (Pa.) at 8:30 p.m. (CST) in Diddle Arena. St. Francis is coached by former Hilltopper great (1980-84) Bobby Jones, a 1,000-point scorers during his days on the Hill and later an assistant coach with the Toppers.
-- WKU --
