FRISCO, Texas — WKU Hilltopper Basketball's season came to a close Thursday with a 72-65 loss to Louisiana Tech in the NIT Quarterfinals.
The Hilltoppers (21-8) allowed their conference foe to make 11 of 18 3-pointers, and a late 12-0 run to end the first half proved to be too much to overcome.
"That wasn't the way we wanted to end our season, that's for sure," WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy. Louisiana Tech's got a really good basketball team. When they shoot the ball the way they shot it, they're really really good. We probably didn't anticipate that happening and I'm sure they didn't either. I think they went 11 for 18 from that 3-point line. … There's a lot of stats you can point to, but you can just look at one stat that they just jumped up and made some shots."
WKU led 31-27 with 3:24 left in the first half after a 10-0 run, capped with a 3-pointer from senior guard Taveion Hollingsworth.
But Louisiana Tech (23-7) finished the half with four straight 3-pointers, using that 12-0 burst to open a 39-31 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs made 8 of 12 3-pointers in the first half.
The Hilltoppers chipped away at their deficit in the second half and got back within two at 45-43 after a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Jordan Rawls with 14:55 to play.
The Bulldogs once again answered with back-to-back 3s and stretched their lead back out to 10.
WKU had chances again down four in the final three minutes, but Louisiana Tech got two straight baskets to put the game out of reach.
Rawls tied his career highs with 20 points and five rebounds and set a new career high with eight assists.
Junior center Charles Bassey recorded his 18th double-double of the season with 15 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks, and Hollingsworth added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Kalob Ledoux paced Louisiana Tech with 20 points, including six made 3-pointers.
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