For the fourth time this season and 11th time under head coach Ray Harper WKU came back from double-digits down to win, this time erasing a 12-point deficit and winning 51-50 at Texas State Thursday night in San Marcos. With the win, WKU improves to 19-9 overall and 11-4 in league play. Texas State drops to 8-20 and 4-11 with the defeat.
The win was the 50th of Harper's WKU career, and the Hilltoppers are now 16-3 under the third-year head coach in games played on or after February 21. WKU has now won seven of its last eight Sun Belt Conference road games.
George Fant led WKU with 14 points, and T.J. Price had 11 second-half tallies while Trency Jackson finished with 10 points. Price also grabbed seven rebounds. Texas State was led by Joel Wright's 15 points.
The first 20 minutes featured four ties and five lead changes, and Texas State led 25-22 at the break after a three-point play with less than half of a second remaining. Jackson led WKU with eight points, and Fant and Brandon Harris each had six. The Hilltoppers shot 35.0 percent in the first half (7-for-20), and Texas State converted at a 38.1 percent clip (8-for-21). Each team had six first-half turnovers, but Texas State turned WKU's miscues into 12 points while the Hilltoppers got just five points off Bobcat errors.
Texas State scored the first nine points of the second half, and WKU fell behind 34-22 before Price ended the drought with a bucket. With the score 36-24, WKU ripped off a 12-3 run and had the game within three points at 39-36 at the under-8:00 media timeout. During the sprint, Price poured in seven points and WKU went 5-for-7 from the field.
A Price jumper on the next possession had WKU within one point and capped off a 14-3 run, but Texas State had five of the next seven points to slow down the Hilltoppers and re-take a 44-40 lead.
After a timeout, Caden Dickerson buried a three-pointer in the corner to once again pull WKU within one point, 44-43. Chris Harrison-Docks followed with a coast-to-coast layup, and WKU took its first lead of the game since 22-20 in the first half at 45-44.
Three times in the final two minutes Texas State came within a point but each time WKU answered, starting with a Jackson layup and two huge buckets by Fant.
With the score 51-50 in favor of WKU, Harrison-Docks missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but Texas State missed a layup on the other end and time expired with WKU on top.
WKU shot 46.4 percent in the second half (13-for-28) and finished the game at 41.7 percent (20-for-48). WKU won the battle of the boards, 32-31, and the Hilltoppers had just 10 turnovers.
WKU finishes the weekend at UT Arlington Saturday night at 7:30 PM (CT). There is no television for Saturday's game. It will be broadcast on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network, airing locally in Bowling Green on WKLX-FM Sam 100.7, with Randy Lee and Hal Schmitt on the call.
WKU plays its final home game of the 2013-14 regular season on Thursday, March 6 against Louisiana Lafayette.