Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Thursday, February 9
Bowling Green, Ky.
7 PM
Middle Tennessee
89
at
93
WKU
Blue Raiders erase 16-point deficit, outlasted by WKU
2/9/2023 10:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Eli Lawrence, Elias King reach 20-point threshold; Hilltoppers make 27 free throws
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Middle Tennessee men's basketball trailed by 16 with 11:15 left to play Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Blue Raiders fought back to take the lead with just over three-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Western Kentucky escaped with a 93-89 win.
MTSU (15-10, 8-6 Conference USA) scored 50 points in the second half, shooting .586 (17-for-29) from the floor and .667 (8-12) from 3-point range. That was not enough, however, to overcome a 27-for-29 (.931) performance from the free throw line by WKU (14-11, 6-8), including 16 of 18 after the intermission.
Eli Lawrence led his team with 21 points to tie his season high and bring his career total to 997. The junior guard was 8-for-16 from the floor and 5-for-8 from deep, setting a new season high in 3-pointers made. His seven rebounds were a game high.
Elias King scored 15 of his career-high 20 points after halftime. The junior wing was 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from long distance.
Camryn Weston recorded a double-double with 14 points and a career-high-tying 10 assists.
By the Numbers
89: MTSU's 89 points were its most of the season.
18: The Hilltoppers made 18 more free throws than the Blue Raiders did Thursday.
5: WKU made five-of-five free throw attempts resulting from technical fouls called on the Blue Raiders.
Blue Raider Notes
Thoughts from Head Coach Nick McDevitt
"It was just a couple of errors in the last two minutes – really it was about the three-minute mark to the one-minute mark… We stepped out of bounds, turned it over. They scored four or six in a row from the free throw line. We just didn't get a clean rebound at critical moments... There was a defensive breakdown that led to a layup for [Dayvion] McKnight. When you're on the road, you can't have all those. And they made some difficult shots tonight. I told our team when the other team is making some shots that the film and the stats say they don't normally make, then your margin for error goes down. That doesn't mean you can't still win the game, but you just can't have those errors and win on the road."
Up Next
The C-USA road trip continues Saturday as the Blue Raiders take on UAB. Tipoff on Stadium and the Blue Raider Radio Network is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook (//MTMensBasketball), Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
MTSU (15-10, 8-6 Conference USA) scored 50 points in the second half, shooting .586 (17-for-29) from the floor and .667 (8-12) from 3-point range. That was not enough, however, to overcome a 27-for-29 (.931) performance from the free throw line by WKU (14-11, 6-8), including 16 of 18 after the intermission.
Eli Lawrence led his team with 21 points to tie his season high and bring his career total to 997. The junior guard was 8-for-16 from the floor and 5-for-8 from deep, setting a new season high in 3-pointers made. His seven rebounds were a game high.
Elias King scored 15 of his career-high 20 points after halftime. The junior wing was 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from long distance.
Camryn Weston recorded a double-double with 14 points and a career-high-tying 10 assists.
By the Numbers
89: MTSU's 89 points were its most of the season.
18: The Hilltoppers made 18 more free throws than the Blue Raiders did Thursday.
5: WKU made five-of-five free throw attempts resulting from technical fouls called on the Blue Raiders.
Blue Raider Notes
- Lawrence and King became the first pair of Blue Raiders to score 20 or more points in the same game this season.
- Weston's double-double was the second of his career, with the first also coming against WKU.
- Lawrence needs just three more points to reach 1,000 for his career.
- Lawrence tied a career high with four steals.
- Dayvion McKnight's 33 points tied the most a player has scored against MTSU this year.
Thoughts from Head Coach Nick McDevitt
"It was just a couple of errors in the last two minutes – really it was about the three-minute mark to the one-minute mark… We stepped out of bounds, turned it over. They scored four or six in a row from the free throw line. We just didn't get a clean rebound at critical moments... There was a defensive breakdown that led to a layup for [Dayvion] McKnight. When you're on the road, you can't have all those. And they made some difficult shots tonight. I told our team when the other team is making some shots that the film and the stats say they don't normally make, then your margin for error goes down. That doesn't mean you can't still win the game, but you just can't have those errors and win on the road."
Up Next
The C-USA road trip continues Saturday as the Blue Raiders take on UAB. Tipoff on Stadium and the Blue Raider Radio Network is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook (//MTMensBasketball), Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
Players Mentioned
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