Box Score BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Down eight with 5:16 left in regulation, UALR (9-8, 4-1 SBC) outscored WKU (10-7, 2-2 SBC) 15-7 over the final five-plus minutes of the second half to force overtime, where it eventually prevailed with an 87-83 victory at E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday night. Senior Will Neighbour led four Trojans in double figures with a career-best 32 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor.
“Our guys showed some resiliency in a very tough environment,” said head coach Steve Shields after the win. “This is a very tough place to play. They've got great, passionate fans here, and the crowd got involved in this game. I thought we got out to a great start, had great ball movement and were rebounding the ball well … That's a credit to our guys. We started the right way. We knew they were going to make a run, but we did a good job of showing some toughness.”
The Trojans took a 33-31 lead into the half, but WKU opened the second stanza by knocking down seven of its first eight 3-point shots to retake the lead. The Hilltoppers lead grew as large as eight in the second half when Brandon Harris connected on one of the team's eight second-half treys at the 5:16 mark.
UALR's comeback began there as jumpers by Neighbour and sophomore Kemy Osse made it a four-point deficit with 4:05 to play. A 3-pointer by Osse at the 3:26 mark cut the margin to one, but WKU's Kevin Kaspar answered with a trey on the other end to push the Hilltoppers' lead back to four.
Another bucket by Neighbour made it 67-65 with 2:33 remaining. Following two free throws by Trency Jackson on the other end, Osse drew contact and hit one of two free throws to again make it a three-point game, 69-66.
Chris Harrison-Docks went one of two at the line on WKU's next trip down the court to make it 70-66. That's when sophomore Josh Hagins pushed the ball down the floor and hit a pull-up 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to cut UALR's deficit to one, 70-69.
Again, UALR fouled WKU on the inbounds, this time sending Harris to the line. Harris split a pair to make it 71-69 with 13 seconds remaining, leaving the door open for UALR to tie the game or take the lead.
UALR worked quickly on offense, giving the ball to Hagins on the wing. The 6-1 guard was able to slide baseline and sink a floater over a couple of Western Kentucky defenders to tie the game at 71 with 8.1 seconds remaining. The Hilltoppers called timeout and were able to get off two shots in their final possession, both of which were swatted away by Hagins.
WKU began the overtime period with a 6-0 run, compliments of back-to-back 3-pointers by Aleksej Rostov. With the Hilltoppers leading 77-71, Osse put together a 4-0 run all by himself to make it a two-point game with 2:42 left in overtime. UALR tied the game on an interior bucket by Neighbour with 1:44 remaining, but WKU answered with two free throws on the other end by George Fant.
Now trailing 79-77, another 3-pointer by Hagins put the Trojans up one with under a minute to play. The Hilltoppers answered with a jumper by Harrison-Docks on the other end, while UALR went back to Neighbour on the next possession to make it 82-81 with 15 seconds left.
UALR forced WKU into a miss on its next trip down the floor. Neighbour grabbed the rebound and was fouled, then hit both free throws to give UALR a 3-point lead with 7.2 ticks left in overtime.
The Trojans fouled on WKU's next possession, sending Harrison-Docks to the line for a pair that made it 84-83. On the inbounds, Hagins received the pass and was fouled before calmly sinking both to put the Trojans up 86-83. Hagins added one more free throw following a WKU turnover to bring the game to its 87-83 final score.
Neighbour's 32-point performance was the first 30-point outing by a UALR player since Brandon Freeman scored 32 against FIU on Jan. 30, 2005. With seven boards on the night, Neighbour became just the 15th player in program history to surpass the 500-rebound milestone.
White added 10 rebounds to go along with 14 points for his second career double-double. Osse scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench. Hagins scored his 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor and 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
As a team, UALR finished the night shooting 32 of 55 from the floor (58.2 percent), 5 of 9 from 3-point range (55.6 percent) and 18 of 22 from the foul line (81.8 percent).
Rostov led WKU with 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Harrison-Docks (14), Harris (13) and Kaspar (11) gave the Hilltoppers four players in double figures.
UALR outrebounded WKU 31-30 on the night and outscored the Hilltoppers 24 to 14 in points in the paint. The two teams combined for 78 bench points on the night.
The win was UALR's third straight against WKU, and second consecutive victory at E.A. Diddle Arena.
UALR will return to action on Saturday when it takes on Georgia State in Atlanta at 1:30 p.m. (CST).
