WKU Honors Dwight Smith as Hilltoppers Take Down Miners

Saturday, February 4

Bowling Green, Ky.

3 p.m.

Western Kentucky University

-1311,58 CUSA

UTEP

-1112,48 CUSA

UTEP

Western Ky.

Photo by: Steve Roberts/WKU Athletics

2/4/2023 6:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Dontaie Allen/Dayvion McKnight Postgame Media HC Rick Stansbury Postgame Media Box Score (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – After WKU honored the late, great Dwight Smith with a jersey retirement at halftime of Saturday's game, WKU Hilltopper Basketball stepped up in the second half to take down the UTEP Miners, 74-69.

"First off, UTEP is a really good basketball team," said head coach Rick Stansbury. "Probably the toughest, most aggressive team in this league. You can look back on every game they've played, they've been in. They've lost tight ones. They came in here in first or second in the league in a lot of categories: offensive rebounding, free throws attempting and turnovers/scoring in transition. We checked all three of those boxes tonight. We said before the game, if we can win the rebound war and the free throw war, we're going to win the game and we did that."

"We had a [reception] before the game," continued Stansbury on retiring Smith's jersey during the game. "We had the opportunity to meet all of this family and a whole bunch of coaches and players that were on that team… To be able to come out here today, we wore shirts [with his number] before the game, to honor him. To come out here and find a way to win a game with toughness, evidently that's who he was, that's what everybody says he was about, toughness, that was pretty special."

After the first bucket, UTEP led the entire first half. The Hilltoppers had a sluggish start to the game, getting down 16-6 to the Miners by the 13-minute mark.

WKU battled back over the next five minutes, cutting into the UTEP lead and making the deficit just 21-19 with 7:17 on the clock.

The Miners responded with another tough 8-2 run to extend their lead back to eight points.

WKU's Dontaie Allen took control of the final 90 seconds of the game, scoring the Hilltoppers' final seven points. A late foul plus an and-one completion by UTEP led to a 37-33 score in favor of the Miners entering halftime.

UTEP has shot 26.8% on the year from 3 entering this afternoon but shot 60% (6-10) from long range in the first half.

The Hilltoppers opened up the second half on an absolute tear, turning a four-point deficit into nine-point lead in a matter of seven and a half minutes. WKU used a 16-3 run to take a 51-42 lead with 12:26 minutes left.

WKU's coaching staff opted to maintain momentum, not subbing any second-half starters out of the game until 8:26 was left in the game.

While the Hilltoppers did not make any field goals in the final four minutes of the game, the Miners tried to capitalize on WKU's lack of shots with a 6-0 run to close it to five.

Dayvion McKnight and Jordan Rawls were able to draw multiple fouls, making up for the field goal deficit with seven made free throws.

The Miners were limited to 21.4% shooting from the 3-point line, making only three in the second half. WKU outrebounded UTEP 39-35 and held the Miners to just 26 points in the paint.

All scorers were paced by WKU's Allen who had a career-high 25 along with seven boards and a teal. He went 5 of 8 from the arc and 8 of 15 from the field.

"It feels great," said Allen on the victory. "It's a testament to everybody staying together, especially down the stretch. Everybody reiterates staying together, staying positive, it's going to be okay. It's lovely to come out like that."

"He was huge," said McKnight on Allen's second-consecutive 20-point performance. "Having Dontaie out there, knocking down 3's, his confidence is high right now and I'm loving it. Having [Jamarion] in the paint, dunking everything around the rim, it's pretty hard to stop. Once they take away something, we've got a counter."

McKnight scored 14 and had four assists, working through a toe injury he sustained on Thursday night. Emmanuel Akot rounded out the trio of double-figure scoring with 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting.

Jamarion Sharp had more blocks and boards than anyone on the court with six and 11, respectively.

Shamar Givance led the Miners in scoring with 18 points, netting 5 of 6 from long range. He added six boards, three assists and two steals.

WKU will finish off its three-game homestand with rival Middle Tennessee on Thursday night. The 7 p.m. CT "White Out" game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.