Join Hilltopper fans at the Huntsville Marriott at the Space and Rocket Center from 4-5:30 PM SATURDAY for a pre-game gathering and team send off before heading to the game!
Huntsville Marriott at the Space and Rocket Center
5 Tranquility Base
Huntsville, AL 35805
For more information, contact:
Laura Smith, WKU Alumni Association
270-745-2586 | laura.smith@wku.edu
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – WKU men's basketball (21-11) dominated 6-seed Middle Tennessee, 85-54, on Friday to advance to the Conference USA Championship Game on Saturday where they will face 5-seed UTEP at 7:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network inside VBC Propst Arena.
The Championship Game appearance marks WKU's fourth in the last six CUSA Tournaments. However, the Hilltoppers are in search of their first Conference Tournament Championship win since 2013, the program's last NCAA Tournament appearance. WKU is 9-7 all-time in Conference Championship Games.
For the Hilltoppers, the win marked its 100th all-time victory over the Blue Raiders and its largest win over its rival since an 80-48 win on Jan. 7, 2006. The 31-point margin of victory was WKU's largest win in a conference tournament in program history.
It was a great rivalry environment in Huntsville for the first conference tournament matchup between the two rivals since 2008. The announced crowd of 3,272 was largely split down the middle, but the game was not.
WKU turned a 23-20 lead with 7:32 left in the first half into a 46-27 halftime advantage and cruised to an easy victory in the second half.
Don McHenry led four Hilltoppers in double figures with 18 points in 22 minutes. Brandon Newman and Khristian Lander each scored 15, while Babacar Faye notched 11. Dontaie Allen started Friday's game fast with six points in five minutes, but was injured prior to the first media timeout and did not return.
WKU was 31-of-64 (48.4%) from the field and 11-of-22 (50%) from long range. The Hilltoppers also converted 12-of-13 from the charity stripe and forced 18 turnovers, scoring 22 points off of them. WKU dominated on the glass, outrebounding MTSU 44-35.
For the second straight night, WKU featured a balanced lineup across the board. Lander's 23 minutes were the most of any player on the roster, with nine Hilltoppers playing at least 18 minutes.
The Hilltopper bench scored 29 points on Friday, bringing its two-game CUSA Championships total to 80 points.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
