WKU Basketball: Tops Win Game 2 Over Old Dominion 60–57, Clinches C-USA Title

After dropping Game One of the Western Kentucky/Old Dominion series, the Tops kicked off Game Two on Saturday afternoon at Diddle Arena. After last night’s loss, it drew more pressure on Rick Stansbury & players as the Conference USA East Division Title remains on the line.

After the opening tipoff, a very unacceptable start had created an early 9–2 lead for the Monarchs. Three consecutive missed field goal attempts put WKU in some early trouble. Thankfully, the hustle of Carson Williams & Tavieon Hollingsworth kept the game alive as they had gone on a 7–0 run to regain the tone of the game.

Through the halfway mark of the first half, Tops were ahead 21–16. ODU’s Malik Curry remained unstoppable as he was able to go into double digits in his first-half scoring total. Luke Frampton came off of the bench to score a couple of quick three-pointers to keep the Tops from allowing a deficit. Charles Bassey remained a force on defense but had some early offensive struggles. At halftime, the Tops were leading the Monarchs 36–33.

In the second half, the momentum went back towards Old Dominion. After starting the second half with a 41–33 sequence in favor of WKU, things slowly came to a screeching halt. The Monarchs were able to go on a 10–0 run as they took back the lead, 43–41. The Tops went over six minutes without a basket but came through with the help of multiple free throws. Charles Bassey, who had a very sordid performance in the first half, made a go-ahead basket to bring the lead back to 48–43 with 7:43 remaining in the second half.

The rest of the contest was back & forth between the Tops and the Monarchs. The defense was able to make some stops & shut down ODU’s scoring attack, especially on the three-point line. The Tops went on to score off a three-point play from Tavieon Hollingsworth. ODU went halfcourt on their last possession of the gam &missed the last-second three-point shot attempt.

The Hilltoppers went on to clinch the regular-season Conference USA Championship and the #1 seed in the CUSA Tournament with the final score of 60–57. Today’s victory also marked Rick Stansbury’s 100th career win on The Hill.

This was both an exciting & frustrating game to watch. Carson Williams stepped up defensively in place of Bassey as he managed to get eight rebounds. Hollingsworth closed the game out with 19 points.

This was a very festive win on Senior Day at Diddle Arena. The Tops now await their opponent following the first/second round bye for the Conference USA Tournament in Frisco, Texas starting on Thursday, March 11th. Teams will be announced over the rest of the weekend.

Here are the final stats from today’s win at Diddle Arena: