Hilltoppers win round two over FIU 76-67

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Thursday night inside of Diddle Arena was an 80’s themed game between the home Hilltoppers and the visiting FIU Panthers, where WKU saw a strong second half lead to a 76-67 victory.

Pregame, senior guard Don McHenry was recognized after hitting 1,000 career points in last week’s outing at UTEP, and he would go on to add 20 more points to that running total against FIU, leading the scoring efforts on the night with 18 of those coming in the first half.

Coming into the game, head coach Hank Plona echoed how important it would be to guard the Panthers from three-point range, and the Tops were able to do just that, as FIU shot just 7-24 (29.2%) from deep.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, WKU went nearly 40% from three, in fact seven of the team’s first 10 made field goals were made from distance, and the triple was able to account for just about half of the Hilltopper’s made baskets all game.

WKU would end the night with four players in double figures: Don McHenry (20), Khristian Lander (19), Tyrone Marshall Jr. (11), and Braxton Bayless (10).

After moving to 8-9 in Conference USA play, Hilltopper head coach Hank Plona discussed the team’s win.

“FIU’s been playing very good basketball. They played very hard tonight. They gave us some real problems there in the first half on the glass, for sure with their toughness and their aggressiveness, and I was happy to see in the second half that we responded and played well, played together,” Plona said. ” [We] out rebounded them in the second half and continued to guard their primary players, so all in all, very happy to get the win and we’ll try to use this to get some momentum and hopefully get another one on Saturday.”

To close out the regular season, the Tops will welcome in the Liberty Flames, who are tied for the top record inside of Conference USA.

The Senior Day matchup will take place at 2p.m. in Diddle Arena.