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Tops start hot, end strongly to beat Fiu 76-67 – Bowling Green Daily News

Tops start hot, end strongly to beat Fiu 76-67 – Bowling Green Daily News

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Tops start hot, land strongly and defeat Fiu 76-67

Published at 1:01 a.m. Friday, March 7, 2025

In the first half of the matchup, Don Mchenry turned the tap on Thursday against Florida International in the EAD Diddle Arena.

The Senior Guard Lud Field Goals like a fire hose against the Panthers for 20 minutes. And when Mchenry's passed more to a dribble in the second half, the Senior Guard von Graduate, Khristian Lander, was ready as a suitable tap to keep the offensive in the 76-67 victory of the Hilltoppers.

Mchenry scored 18 team height of 20 points in the first half, while Lander scored 18 of his 19 total points in the second half.

“It seemed as if Don was probably a little bit in the first half and then Khristian was the main actors in the second half in the second half,” said WKU coach Hank Plona. “I think if you have a few options that can score on the edge and from 3 points, it can be difficult to protect yourself. I didn't think Don switched it off in the second half. He missed a few open looks he had, it seemed as if he were getting more attention, and that made it possible to shake off the ball and play a few games on the ball. He also had a few good defensive games in which we sink. “

WKU (total of 17-13, 8: 9 conference USA) held the hope that the top six to end in the conference evaluation would make it easier for Hilltoppers to make the post-season away, which would avoid a game in the first round on Tuesday and win two additional rest days.

The tops can secure this seed No. 6 by defeating the Liberty on Saturday in the DIDDLE home final in combination with a tech loss in Louisiana. WKU can also reach the top six in various other scenarios, but nothing is complete. The last day of the Cusa League game has been completed.

Beating Fiu (9-21, 3-14) was a necessary step to reach this coveted top-Six point. Mchenry and Tyrone Marshall Jr. got the tops rolling early. Marshall scored the first of five WKU 3-to-sided Mchenry in the first five minutes, then Marshall bored another before Braxton Bayless sank to build a 15:4 lead at the first media break.

The Panthers climbed back and exceeded the tops 8-1 in the next two minutes to pull within four. WKU pressed the lead to eight again, but another Fiu run reduced the gap to 23-20. WKU replied with a 10: 1 run from Mchenry's fourth 3 half to stretch his lead over 36-26, but the Panthers came up with another 9: 1 sprint to reach 39: 38 within half.

The tops that beat nine of their 12 3-point pointers in the first half held at the top in the first 20 minutes, although every long rebound 26-11 exceeded, since every long rebound seemed to land into the hands of a FIU player.

“It was easy to see that some shots fall and reach an early lead and try to build it,” said Mchenry, who added five assists to the season height.

The Panthers took over their first lead of the game on a Dashon Gittens Layup only 11 seconds in the second half, and the FIU led a few free throws with five with 45: 40 after Vianney Salatchum (Game-High-21 points). The tops reacted with a 10-0 run, with Lander ending the climb with a layup from his theft.

The Panthers reduced the edge to three points twice, but WKU got a separation when Lander met a 3 and Bayless struck a jumper to achieve the score 60-52 with 8:20 to play them.

Fiu never came closer to the rest of the path than six.

“I am obviously very happy to win this evening,” said Plona. “Every game in March will always be a very highly competitive game, and I think it is easy to take over that a home game against a team that has some ups and downs this year will be easy. We were very aware that we went into the game that this would not be the case. Fiu played very good basketball. You played very hard this evening. In the first half they gave us some real problems on the glass with their toughness and aggressiveness.

“I was glad to see in this second half that we reacted, played well and played together. We surpassed them in the second half and continued to guard their main players. “

Jayden Brewer added 14 points and the Gitten had 11 for the Fiu.

Marshall just missed a double double with 11 points and nine rebounds together with four templates, and Bayless added 10 points in the victory. Lander had four steals, three rebounds and two templates in addition to his 19 points.

WKU completes the regular season on Saturday at home with a matchup against Liberty at 2 p.m. ESPN+ is transferred to the game that Senior Day is for the Hilltoppers.

Nach season crawl

Mchenry said the team was aware of number 6 at the USA tournament in the next week.

“At the moment we are trying to win every game,” said Mchenry. “Whatever the pieces fall, we will be at that moment and be the best version of ourselves and do what we have to do to get a W.”

The simplest solution for WKU is that the Hilltoppers will lose Liberty and the Louisiana Tech at home against Utep on Saturday. That would lock the seed No. 6 for the tops.

WKU would also achieve number 6 with a win against Liberty and a Tech victory in Louisiana, provided that Kennesaw State Beats defeated the US state of Jacksonville on Saturday. Even if both the tops and the Louisiana Tech would lose on Saturday, the No. 6 seed would go to WKU, as this would force a three-way difference with UTEP and the tops would have the best record in the head-to-head heads.

The tops could still fall on seeds No. 7 if Kennesaw State loses his Saturday road game in Jax State, even if the tops win – if La Tech also wins in this scenario. That would drop Kennesaw State into a three-way draw with WKU and La Tech. The owls would be the No. 5 seed, which is based on head-to-head results against the tops and bulldogs, while La Tech would get segut No. 6 after separation with Jax State, which would be the Cusa champion of the regular season with a win on Saturday.

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