The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers got their much sought after signature win for the programme when they took down the No.18 ranked team in the country.

The Hilltoppers scored a 77-73 win over the Purdue Boilermakers last night in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis at the Imperial Arena.

Dwight Coleby was plagued with foul trouble for much of the night and finished with six points and four rebounds in just 14 minutes.

WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said the team was able improve to 4-2 and recover from Wednesday’s loss through correcting unforced errors and toughness on the boards.

“They limited the self-inflicted wounds today and I think we controlled the flow of the game on both ends of the floor. It was a great team effort, great togetherness and it was great toughness. We weren’t the best team, but we were the toughest team and we found a way to win it. I’m awfully proud of my guys,” he said.

“In the first game we had too many loose ball all turnovers that led to easy baskets but in this game we didn’t do that. For us we have no margin for error, we’re not going to play perfect but we can correct the mistakes we make and play with effort.”

Coleby scored the first basket of the game, but was forced into foul trouble attempting to guard Purdue seven footers Isaac Haas and Matt Haarms. Haas, the 7’2”, 290-pound senior, scored a game high 22 points and shot 7-8 from the field.

“There is only so many ways you can game-plan facing post guys that size. Justin “(Johnson) guarded him (Haas) different from Dwight just trying to give him different looks and trying to keep him from being totally comfortable. We weren’t going to double but those guys just fought him. I’m not sure there’a a more difficult post guy to guard in the country,” Stansbury said.

After facing No.5 Villanova on Wednesday, this was the first time WKU had played consecutive games against ranked opponents since the 1993 NCAA tournament.

“We want to play against the best and for that you have to go out and get hit in the mouth and see how you respond. I like the way we responded. Johnson led WKU with 17 points and nine rebounds.

“This was probably the biggest win of my career,” he said. “With the limited numbers I know when we’re warming up people start counting but I’ll go to war with those eight guys any day of the week.”

The Hilltoppers led 11-7 early, when Jake Ohmer gave them a spark off the bench with back to back threes. Johnson’s jump hook over Haas put them up 13, 33-20 with 6:09 left to play in the first half for their biggest lead of the game. Ohmer three at the buzzer gave WKU a 42-31 lead at the half.

WKU led by as much as 10 in the second half when Coleby grabbed an offensive rebound and finished with a dunk for a 48-38 advantage.

Darius Thompson hit two clinching free throws with 5.1 seconds left to play. WKU will play the winner of the Arizona/SMU matchup at 7pm tonight. Results were unavailable to press time.

No. 5 Villanova, which continued to survive and advance with an 85-76 victory over Tennessee in Thursday’s semifinals.

The Wildcats (5-0) outscored Tennessee 23-2 to start the second half, enabling them to rally from a 46-34 halftime deficit. Then they had to hold off a late push by the Volunteers (3-1), which used a 14-2 run in the final five minutes to close to within three points at 79-76 before Villanova finally put the game away.

Villanova advances to today’s championship game to play Northern Iowa or. The Wildcats won the 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis and are attempting to become the tournament’s first two-time champ.

Panthers’ 64-60 victory over North Carolina State in Thursday’s semifinal.

Thywon Pickford had 18 points and an astonishing 18 rebounds – 13 in the second half – in helping lead UNI (5-1) into Friday’s tournament championship game against Villanova. Overall, the Panthers finished with 38 boards, meaning Pickford nearly outrebounded the rest of this team.

The Panthers were on the verge of wasting Pickford’s performance, as NC State (5-1) led 58-56 with less than two minutes to play. But UNI forward Bennett Koch scored the last of his 16 points on a game-tying dunk with 1:45 left, and the Wolfpack missed four of their final five shots and committed three turnovers, enabling UNI to close the game on an 8-2 run.