Jan. 18, 2014
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- The WKU Hilltoppers rebounded from an overtime loss Thursday night with an 82-77 double-overtime triumph over Arkansas State Saturday night at E.A. Diddle Arena in front of a crowd of 5,866. WKU improves to 11-7 overall and 3-2 in league play with the win, and Arkansas State drops to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
WKU last played in back-to-back overtime games on February 20, 2010 at Arkansas State and February 25, 2010 at Florida Atlantic, both victories.
George Fant set a career high with 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting in 45 minutes of action, and he also tied a career best with 14 rebounds. In the process, Fant became the 48th member of WKU's illustrious 1,000-point scorers club with a bucket with 8:25 left in regulation to put the Hilltoppers ahead 57-49.
T.J. Price had 19 points and eight rebounds for WKU, and Aleksej Rostov added eight and five. Aaron Adeoye contributed nine rebounds for WKU. Arkansas State was led by Kendrick Washington's 20 points and nine rebounds. The game featured 10 ties and nine lead changes.
It was an offensive first half Saturday night, as the two teams combined for 74 points and WKU led 40-34 at the break. Fant led all scorers with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and T. Price had nine with three rebounds. Arkansas State was led by Washington's 10 points and four rebounds.
Trailing from the start, WKU put together a 9-0 run in just one minute to open up a 17-13 advantage. Fant converted a three-point play, which was followed by a Kevin Kaspar triple to seal the spurt. With Arkansas State leading 26-24, WKU again rattled off nine-straight points to open up a 33-26 lead while forcing the Red Wolves into five-straight misses.
It was Arkansas State's turn for a 9-0 scoring run coming out of the halftime locker room, as the Red Wolves poured in the first nine points of the second half to take a 43-40 lead. During that time, WKU missed its first seven shots from the floor.
Chris Harrison-Docks hit three-straight three-pointers to put WKU ahead 52-47 with 10:11 left in regulation, and T. Price followed with a three of his own the next time down the court to make the score 55-47 in favor of the Hilltoppers.
WKU led by six with 3:45 remaining, 62-56, but two Arkansas State three-pointers by Rakeem Dickerson and Brandon Reed had them within two at 64-62 with 2:14 showing. Washington had a layup 40 seconds later to tie the game at 64, and neither team scored again to send the game into its first overtime. Rostov missed a three-pointer on WKU's final possession.
Neither squad led by more than two points in the first overtime, and the game remained tied at 70 after Harrison-Docks missed a three with six seconds remaining. Arkansas State did not make a field goal in the first overtime period.
WKU exploded to a 77-72 lead with 61 seconds left after an Adeoye jumper, and Harrison-Docks hit two free throws with 48 seconds left to put WKU ahead 79-72. An Adeoye free throw followed for an eight-point lead, matching WKU's largest of the night, and WKU picked up the 82-77 win 20 seconds later despite an Ed Townsel three-pointer with five seconds left.
WKU finished the game shooting 41.3 percent (31-for-75) and hit nine of 31 three-pointers. WKU held a 25-4 advantage on second-chance points and had just 14 turnovers in 50 minutes of action.
WKU outrebounded the Red Wolves 51-37.
UP NEXT
WKU hits the road for two games next week, beginning Thursday at 7:00 PM (CT) at ULM. Thursday's game will be televised by the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network, airing nationally on ESPN3, with ESPN Full Court clearance to be determined this week, and regionally on WKU PBS and WBNA. It will also be broadcast on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network, airing locally in Bowling Green on WKLX-FM Sam 100.7, with Randy Lee and Hal Schmitt on the call.
From there, WKU heads to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 3:00 PM (CT), in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN2. WKU returns to E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday, January 30 to host Texas-Arlington.
Single-game tickets for the 2013-14 season and various multiple-game packages are on sale now. Fans interested in purchasing single-game tickets or multiple-game packages can call the WKU Ticket Office at 1-800-5-BIG RED or 745-5222 locally, or order online at WKUSports.com.
