Hilltoppers take hard-fought 83-78 loss to #23/24 Vanderbilt

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — WKU Hilltopper Basketball went toe-to-toe with #23/24 Vanderbilt but ultimately fell, 83-78, in the opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday afternoon inside Imperial Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Teagan Moore helped WKU grab a 12-11 edge at the first media timeout, pouring in seven points in the opening four minutes on a layup, two free throws and a 3-pointer. The Hilltoppers pushed the lead to 17-13 at the 13:07 mark after three free throws from Armelo Boone, but Vanderbilt responded with a 10-0 spurt to go in front 23-17.
• The teams traded baskets over the next stretch, with Bryant Selebangue, Boone, Terrion Murdix and Moore all finishing at the rim before Cam Haffner buried his second 3-pointer of the half to keep WKU within five with 4:12 to go.
• Vanderbilt extended its cushion to 10 in the final minute, but another Haffner triple and two Moore free throws trimmed the deficit to 40-35 at the break.
• Vanderbilt opened the second half on a 5-0 run, only for the Hilltoppers to answer with a 5-0 surge of their own as Haffner converted an and-one and Boone knocked down two free throws to make it 45-40 with 17:23 remaining.
• The Commodores then built their largest lead at 58-43 with just over nine minutes left, using a 12-3 run to take control.
• WKU cut the margin to 10 several times over the next six minutes behind a pair of Boone 3-pointers, trailing 71-61 at the 4:06 mark, before Moore strung together his own 5-0 run to make it 73-66 with 2:39 left, getting to the rim twice, including an and-one finish. Haffner drilled another 3-pointer and Selebangue scored on a late layup to pull the Hilltoppers within five with 54 seconds remaining.
• In the closing seconds, goaltending was called as Boone was fouled on a driving layup with four seconds to play and his made free throw cut the deficit to 81-78. Vanderbilt, however, sank two free throws on the ensuing possession to make the final score 83-78.

NOTABLES

• WKU falls to 4-1 on the season and 11-15 all-time against Vanderbilt.
• The Hilltoppers’ starting five was Terrion Murdix, Cam Haffner, Teagan Moore, Grant Newell and Blaise Keita.
• Four Hilltoppers scored in double figures, led by Teagan Moore’s 24 points, followed by Cam Haffner with 18, Armelo Boone with 16 and Terrion Murdix with 10.
• Moore delivered a career performance in the loss, setting or tying personal bests in five categories with a career-high 24 points on 6-of-12 shooting and a perfect 11-of-11 at the free-throw line, while matching his career high with five assists and logging a career-best 34 minutes.
• Haffner turned in his top outing as a Hilltopper, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, to go along with a season-high five rebounds.
• Boone posted season-highs with 16 points and seven rebounds, going 4-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the stripe in 23 minutes, highlighted by a thunderous alley-oop dunk from Murdix.
• Murdix added 10 points, three assists and two steals in 24 minutes, shooting 3-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 at the line for his third double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Bryant Selebangue contributed nine points and a game-high nine rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench, finishing a team-best plus-10 in his time on the floor.
• WKU shot 23-of-63 (37.1%) from the field, while Vanderbilt finished 24-of-53 (45.3%).
• The Hilltoppers went 8-of-25 (32.0%) from 3-point range compared to the Commodores’ 9-of-24 (37.5%) from deep.
• WKU converted 24-of-33 (72.7%) at the foul line while Vanderbilt hit 26-of-37 (70.3%) at the stripe.
• The Hilltoppers held edges in second-chance points (8-7), fast-break points (7-2) and bench scoring (26-15) and matched the Commodores in points in the paint (28-28).

QUOTABLES

“While I respect the number 24 next to their name, I think we approached this as a game against one of the best five teams in the country. I thought we battled, we competed and we fought. I thought we did some good things. I thought there were some areas we can improve. I think we said at halftime, if we held them to 80 points, we would have a chance to win that game. It took us a little bit to get our offense and our shooting going. Obviously, there are some areas that we’re going to have to learn and continue to get better, but all in all, I thought the guys played very hard. I thought they represented each other and played with a purpose to represent our university. I thought it was, more or less, a pretty good effort. There’s a lot of things, basketball-wise, we need to improve on. We’ll work here for 24-26 hours to do that tomorrow and be prepared to do our best to get a win tomorrow.” — Mahurin Family Foundation Head Coach Hank Plona, on the loss to #23/24 Vanderbilt.

“Going into it, I think we knew that they were going to pressure us and try to push us off of our spots. We just want to be physical and get to our spots and shoot. That’s kind of my job. I have to shoot the ball. They’re on me if I don’t. That’s something we talked about after the game, just trying to improve our offense as the season goes on. I thought we found some moments today where it was good and the ball moved. We just have to keep working at that.” — Guard Cam Haffner, on #23/24 Vanderbilt’s defense.

“I think because they pressure up so much that putting pressure on the rim causes them to collapse down and you get open looks for shooters like Cam [Haffner] and Kade [Unseld]. I was trying to put pressure on the rim every time I had the ball and either get fouled, score or find one of my guys.” — Guard Teagan Moore, on #23/24 Vanderbilt’s defense.

NEXT UP

The Hilltoppers continue play in Battle 4 Atlantis, playing South Florida on Thursday, November 27. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT at Imperial Arena and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.