The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Dwight Coleby and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers advanced with a dominant win in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament.

Coleby finished with six points, five rebounds and two blocks in a 79-62 win over the Boston College Eagles at the EA Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The Hilltoppers will now travel to California to face the top seeded USC Trojans, March 19 at 10:30pm, broadcast live on ESPN.

The Hilltoppers improved to 25-10 as a No.4 seed in the tournament and picked up their first NIT win since 2005.

“We want to keep building on this. The one characteristic everyone has when you mix all these new guys together we have good character and that’s what you see on display,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said.

“We did a quick prep and we had a one day walkthrough. We made a decision on our biggest keys to keep [Ky] Bowman and [Jerome] Robinson out of that lane so to do that Dwight stayed on those guards. Dwight did a terrific job doing that.”

Stansbury added that Coleby has recovered with an effort that impressed the coaching staff after several tough games.

“Dwight looked better than he has the past few games. Dwight’s such a good person, and he had a couple tough games, ODU, Middle, UAB, Old Dominion again going against those big guys, and I think he didn’t have as much success as he would like, and he’s such a good person he lost some confidence because he’s trying hard but that was the old Dwight against BC,” he said.

“He didn’t score as much as we have seen, but he was playing hard, finished that ball when he got it and defensively he was really good. The players got that confidence back in him, and he got it back in himself.”

Boston College led 26-21 early in the second quarter, but WKU went on a 7-0 run, pulling in front 28-26 at the 6:50 mark on a 3-pointer by Tavieon Hollingsworth.

The Hilltoppers then finished the first half on an 11-2 spurt, including nine straight points. Justin Johnson’s layup just before the buzzer made it 41-33 WKU at the break.

The Hilltoppers shot 61.5 per cent in the first half and held Boston College to nine points in the second quarter.

WKU brought Diddle Arena to life with three straight dunks early in the third quarter and eventually led by as much as 17 with 7:24 to play. The Hilltoppers outscored Boston College 40-26 in the paint and 15-2 on the fast break. This is the 14th NIT appearance for the Hilltoppers in school history after they finished in third-place in the Conference – USA regular season standings.

WKU just missed an NCAA tournament berth with a narrow 67-66 loss to the Marshall Thundering Herd in the C-USA title game.

A trip to the 2013 NCAA Tournament was the last postseason season appearance for the programme prior to this NIT bid.

“You look at where we were two years ago and the issues we were facing then and you look at where we are now, literally one basket away from the NCAA Tournament,” WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said to ABC 13-WBKO in Bowling Green. “This is a team that won 24 games and the opportunity to still be playing is one I know everyone certainly appreciates.”

The NIT is known as the second tier postseason tournament behind the main event, “March Madness.”

The tournament was founded in 1938 and the final rounds are played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

This year’s field is highlighted by several teams considered “on the bubble” for the NCAA Tournament, including Baylor, Notre Dame, St Mary’s and USC. The field also includes several teams who were regular season conference winners.