BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Hilltopper Basketball was unable to overcome the hump of a four-point, halftime deficit, falling to the Blazers 72-60 on Senior Night in E.A. Diddle Arena on Saturday in front of a season-best home crowd of 5,623.
"First off, we give UAB a lot of credit," said head coach Rick Stansbury. "They did what they had to do to take away some of our strengths. Our strength is [Dayvion McKnight]… It's very obvious to everyone who's seen us play, it's very hard for us to manufacture enough baskets when [Dayvion] scores four points. There's just not enough other opportunities out there. And we knew we were going to have to do something special to beat that team tonight and we had to make some shots. And we probably only made five and that's probably a low that we've had recently. In the paint area, they punished us, they just punished us in the paint… We never could get back in the second half. We never could get that run. Their zone controlled the flow of it and we could just never get enough stops to get out in transition."
WKU (15-14, 7-11 C-USA) got off to a hot start, using an 11-2 run to gain a seven-point edge with 13:10 on the clock. The Blazers missed six of their first eight shots.
After getting down seven, UAB then went on a 16-2 run between 12:56 and 9:12 that allowed the Blazers to take a 22-15 lead.
Following that run, the Blazers went ice cold, missing their next six shots. The Hilltoppers were able to capitalize on the freeze, scoring nine straight between 8:21 and 5:51.
After WKU tied it up twice and gained a one-point lead, UAB scored the final five points of the half, taking a 33-29 advantage into the break.
Out of halftime, UAB (22-8, 13-6) immediately extended its lead. The Blazers used a 14-2 run to turn a four-point 41-37 lead into a 16-point 55-39 lead in just four minutes.
The Hilltoppers went on to score seven straight, cutting it to nine points at 55-46 with 8:17 left. WKU would come within nine multiple times but never closer as the Blazers kept the Tops at bay in the waning minutes.
On Senior Night, Jairus Hamilton led all scorers with 20 points, shooting 7 of 11 from the floor and a 3 of 5 mark from the 3-point line. He made his first six shots and first three beyond the arc.
The other WKU senior on the court, Emmanuel Akot, led the Tops in rebounding with seven boards. He added nine points and two assists. Dayvion McKnight was incredibly limited in scoring, but was still able to grab four boards and dish out six assists.
Trey Jemison was a force for UAB in the paint with 10 boards and 10 points. Eric Gaines added 17 points and Tavin Lovan scored 14.
WKU will finish the regular season on the road. The Hilltoppers will play at UTEP on Thursday night at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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