Hilltoppers Falter Late In 69-65 Loss at FAU
Credit – WKU Athletics
BOCA RATON, Fla. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball charged out to an early lead and had chances late, but dropped a 69-65 decision at Florida Atlantic on Thursday in Boca Raton, Fla.
The Hilltoppers (14-7 overall, 7-2 Conference USA) allowed the Owls to make 10 3-pointers and score 17 second-chance points in a defeat that snapped their five-game winning streak.
“There’s one play throughout that game in a lot of spots that could be the difference between winning and losing,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “We’ve got a tie game with 25, 30 seconds to go, and they shoot an airball and get an offensive putback. … There were way too many of them.”
WKU opened the game with a 12-0 run, including two 3-pointers by freshman guard Jordan Rawls and two dunks by junior guard Josh Anderson.
Florida Atlantic (13-9, 5-4) used its own 10-0 run later to take a 28-26 lead with 4:57 left in the first half, but WKU scored the next seven points and led 33-30 at the break.
Redshirt senior guard/forward Jared Savage opened the second half with a 3 to push WKU’s lead to six, but by midway through the frame, the teams were trading the lead back and forth.
The Hilltoppers’ last lead came with 9:08 remaining on two free throws by Anderson, although they tied the game four more times before the final buzzer.
The last tie came with 47 seconds left when redshirt junior forward Carson Williams knotted the game at 65-all with two free throws.
WKU forced an airball by FAU at the other end, but the Owls’ Jailyn Ingram got a putback for what turned out to be the winning basket.
WKU junior guard Taveion Hollingsworth drove to the basket for a potentially game-tying shot in the final seconds, but lost the ball on contact out of bounds upon replay review.
“We’ve just got to finish it,” Hollingsworth said. “We fixed some things at halftime. Besides making shots, we did some things well. We just lost the game.”
Anderson led the Hilltoppers with a season-high 20 points, while Hollingsworth had 18. Savage chipped in 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The Hilltoppers make the short trek for another road game to FIU at 11 a.m. CT Saturday in Miami, Fla. The game will stream exclusively online on Stadium on Facebook.
