Western
Kentucky University (24-8) built a 15-point first-half cushion but had to rally
in the final 12 minutes to hold off South Alabama (20-13) 64-56 on Tuesday night
at Summit Arena, winning the program's seventh Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Championship. The Hilltoppers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for
the second-straight season and the 21st time in the program's 90-year history.
'There was a lot of focus tonight on team defense and rebounding. It was a
physical game again, the third in a row, and on the offensive end I really
wanted to be aggressive against South Alabama. We really started off the game
aggressive,' said WKU head coach
Ken
McDonald , only the second Hilltopper coach to win his first three
postseason games. 'We got away from that a little bit when South Alabama went on
their run, but we were able to get back in the aggressive mode the last 10
minutes, and I thought we kind of controlled the game from that point forward.'
WKU is now 7-4 all-time in 11 appearances in the Sun Belt Tournament finals,
winning their fifth tournament title in the last eight years. The Hilltoppers
scored the first 11 points of the game, nine coming from the sophomore
Steffphon Pettigrew (6'5''-G/F). After
DeAndre Coleman (6'7''-F-86) got the Jaguars on the board with a tough
spinning lay-up at the 15:38 mark,
D.J.
Magley (6'9''-F) had an offensive stickback and Pettigrew connected on his
second three-pointer as the Toppers went up 16-4 with 13:07 left in the first
half. Pettigrew stayed hot, knocking down his third triple of the first half as
the Toppers build their largest lead of the game 27-12 with 5:47 remaining. The
2007 Kentucky Mr. Basketball scored all of his 15 points in the opening stanza
to go with seven rebounds in 35 minutes.
South Alabama reduced the deficit to 35-25 at the break, and in a second-half
start that mirrored the Toppers' regular season finale at Middle Tennesse, the
Jaguars gave WKU its best shot, reeling off an 18-4 run to take a 43-39 lead
with 12:46 to play on a
Domonic Tilford (5'10''-G-87) three-pointer. It was last points the Jaguars'
leading scorer would record as he finished with 12 for the game. But as they
have so many times this year, WKU responded. Magley rebounded and scored a
missed
AJ
Slaughter (6'3''-G) three-pointer, then Slaughter connected from long range,
and
Sergio Kerusch (6'5''-G/F) flushed a nice feed from
Orlando Mendez-Valdez (6'1''-G) of Western Kentucky University for
seven-straight points, part of a 14-3 run as WKU reclaimed control 53-46 with
7:02 left. Slaughter finished with a team-high 18 points and earned Sun Belt
Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Mendez-Valdez and Kerusch added 10 and
eight respectively and were also named to the All-Tournament team. Magley's
eight points off the bench tied a season-high set on November 18 against
Campbellsville. He also had six boards. As a team, WKU outrebounded the best
rebounding team in the league 32-22. Coleman finished with a career-best 27
points and nine rebounds off the bench to lead South Alabama.
WKU connected on 14-of-14 free throws and 8-of-23 three-point attempts. WKU will
now await the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement on Sunday, March 15 to find
out their seed, opponent, and location. The Hilltoppers won their first two
games of last year's 'Big Dance' in advancing to the program's seventh NCAA
Sweet 16.
Courtesy of wkusports
Tournament Final: WKU - South Alabama 64-56 Tournament Semifinals:
WKU - North Texas 77-70
South Alabama - UALR 54-44
McDonald
Western
Kentucky University (24-8) built a 15-point first-half cushion but had to rally
in the final 12 minutes to hold off South Alabama (20-13) 64-56 on Tuesday night
at Summit Arena, winning the program's seventh Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Championship. The Hilltoppers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for
the second-straight season and the 21st time in the program's 90-year history.
