HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Western Kentucky University (24-8) built a 15-point first-half cushion but had to rally in the final 12 minutes to hold off South Alabama (20-13) 64-56 on Tuesday night at Summit Arena, winning the program's seventh Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship. The Hilltoppers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season and the 21st time in the program's 90-year history.
"There was a lot of focus tonight on team defense and rebounding. It was a physical game again, the third in a row, and on the offensive end I really wanted to be aggressive against South Alabama. We really started off the game aggressive," said WKU head coach Ken McDonald, only the second Hilltopper coach to win his first three postseason games. "We got away from that a little bit when South Alabama went on their run, but we were able to get back in the aggressive mode the last 10 minutes, and I thought we kind of controlled the game from that point forward."
WKU is now 7-4 all-time in 11 appearances in the Sun Belt Tournament finals, winning their fifth tournament title in the last eight years.
The Hilltoppers scored the first 11 points of the game, nine coming from the sophomore Steffphon Pettigrew. After DeAndre Coleman got the Jaguars on the board with a tough spinning lay-up at the 15:38 mark, DJ Magley had an offensive stickback and Pettigrew connected on his second three-pointer as the Toppers went up 16-4 with 13:07 left in the first half.
Pettigrew stayed hot, knocking down his third triple of the first half as the Toppers build their largest lead of the game 27-12 with 5:47 remaining. The 2007 Kentucky Mr. Basketball scored all of his 15 points in the opening stanza to go with seven rebounds in 35 minutes.
South Alabama reduced the deficit to 35-25 at the break, and in a second-half start that mirrored the Toppers' regular season finale at Middle Tennesse, the Jaguars gave WKU its best shot, reeling off an 18-4 run to take a 43-39 lead with 12:46 to play on a Domonic Tilford three-pointer. It was last points the Jaguars' leading scorer would record as he finished with 12 for the game.
But as they have so many times this year, WKU responded. Magley rebounded and scored a missed AJ Slaughter three-pointer, then Slaughter connected from long range, and Sergio Kerusch flushed a nice feed from Orlando Mendez-Valdez for seven-straight points, part of a 14-3 run as WKU reclaimed control 53-46 with 7:02 left.
Slaughter finished with a team-high 18 points and earned Sun Belt Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Mendez-Valdez and Kerusch added 10 and eight respectively and were also named to the All-Tournament team. Magley's eight points off the bench tied a season-high set on November 18 against Campbellsville. He also had six boards. As a team, WKU outrebounded the best rebounding team in the league 32-22.
Coleman finished with a career-best 27 points and nine rebounds off the bench to lead South Alabama.
WKU connected on 14-of-14 free throws and 8-of-23 three-point attempts.
WKU will now await the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement on Sunday, March 15 to find out their seed, opponent, and location. The Hilltoppers won their first two games of last year's "Big Dance" in advancing to the program's seventh NCAA Sweet 16.
NOTES:
• Making its 11th Sun Belt Conference Tournament finals appearance, WKU captured the program's seventh SBC Tournament Championship (7-4 all-time in the finals)
• The seventh SBC Tournament Titles is the most in league history, now two ahead of South Alabama's five
• Tonight's championship was the program's fifth this decade (2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, and 2009)
• WKU is now 2-1 all-time against South Alabama in the SBC Tournament Championship game, also winning in 2001 and falling 2006
• WKU earning the Sun Belt's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, making the program's 21st NCAA appearance
• The 2009 NCAA Tournament appearance will mark the 34th national postseason appearance for the Hilltoppers
• WKU head coach Ken McDonald became just the second coach in Hilltopper history to win his first three postseason games, joining Matt Killcullen who won the SBC Tournament in 1995
• WKU improves to 25-30 all-time against South Alabama having won three-straight
• WKU notched three wins in one season over South Alabama for the first time in the 55-game series history
• WKU became the 14th number one seed in the 32-year history of the Sun Belt Tournament to win the championship
• The tournament championship also marks the 61st in the last decade (both regular season and tournament titles) for WKU in all Sun Belt Conference sports
• WKU entered the game ranked 45th in the latest RPI ratings (the second-highest rated team in the state of Kentucky, behind only Louisville at #9, whom the Toppers beat 68-54 on November 30); South Alabama is 151st
• WKU entered the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the number one seed for the eighth time in 27 appearances
• WKU improves to 37-20 all-time in the Sun Belt Tournament (most in league history)
• WKU won its seven-straight game, a season high; the Hilltoppers have won 15 of their last 17 games
• WKU improves to 272-114 all-time against the 12 current members of the Sun Belt Conference (includes postseason and match-ups when WKU was in the OVC); since joining the Sun Belt in 1982, the Toppers are 269-153 all-time
• WKU improves to 21-0 when holding its opponent to less than 70 points
• WKU improves to 22-7 in televised games this season
• WKU set a season-high at the line going 14-of-14
• Orlando Mendez-Valdez, the newly crowned Sun Belt Player of the Year, scored 10 points to pass Gene Rhodes (1949-52) for 38th on the WKU all-time scoring list with 1,031; he now trails Derek Robinson (1999-2002) by seven points for 36th
• WKU has had three or more players in double figures in 28 of 32 games this season
• AJ Slaughter reached double figures for the 16th-straight game, his career long streak; he has reached double figures in 28 of 30 games played this season
• With eight assists, Orlando Mendez-Valdez has 342 for his career, ranking sixth all-time at WKU; next up is the senior's former coach, Darrin Horn (1992-95) with 352
• With two threes, Orlando Mendez-Valdez now has 187 for his career, trailing Ty Rogers (2005-08) by six for fourth all-time
• Sophomore DJ Magley tied a season-high with eight points to go with six rebounds off the bench
• Sergio Kerusch and Orlando Mendez-Valdez were named to the All-Tournament team while AJ Slaughter was selected as the Sun Belt Tournament Most Valuable Player
QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Ken McDonald:
Opening statement:
“There are lots of emotions going through our heads right now. It was a hard-fought game. I thought it was a hard-fought weekend for our basketball team. We’re not the most physical team, and we were talking at the beginning of the year that we weren’t going to be the most athletic team, the fastest team, the tallest team on the floor all the time, but we had to be the most tenacious, and we had to be the best team. There was a lot of focus tonight on team defense and rebounding. It was a physical game again, the third in a row, and on the offensive end I really wanted to be aggressive against South Alabama. We really started off the game aggressive. We got away from that a little bit when South Alabama went on their run, but we were able to get back in the aggressive mode the last 10 minutes, and I thought we kind of controlled the game from that point forward.”
On D.J. Magley
“It’s a tough situation when you’re coming off the bench, and you don’t know how many minutes you’re going to get on a particular night, who’s going to get in foul trouble. The biggest thing I think with D.J. is his attitude’s been terrific the last couple of months. He’s just been very positive, trying to do what he can do in practice, trying to help. Come tournament time, guys step up. I think he looked at is as an opportunity.”
On the WKU backcourt of Slaughter and Mendez-Valdez
“They make us go. Right from the start of the season, they set the tone with how hard they worked. ...There’s no question from day one that AJ Slaughter and Orlando Mendez-Valdez were the hardest workers on the team. And they’re talented also, so that takes them to another level. So I basically gave those guys the keys at the beginning of the season because we were going to establish ourselves as a guard-oriented team, and they were going to have to run the team. And we didn’t have a lot of production coming back offensively, so we had to make sure the right guys had the ball in their hands.”
WKU Junior Guard A.J. Slaughter (#4):
What are your emotions right now? Relief, excitement?
“It’s a little bit of both. It’s a relief that we came out of the game with a win. Toward the end they got real aggressive and they came back and took the lead. We could have hung our heads and gave in, but we didn’t. We stuck together and came out with a win.”
On Magley
“He came out ready to play. He put a big body on the bigs inside. He played great defense, he rebounded, and came down with two huge free throws in the game for the win.”
On coming out aggressive against South Alabama
“They’re a feel-good team and we wanted to take their confidence away in the first four minutes. I thought we did a good job of coming out and showing that they were going to get a good game and we were going to attack them. This game was a loser-go-home, and we knew they were going to fight back, and they came back, and we stuck together.”
WKU Sophomore Forward Steffphon Pettigrew:
On losing the lead
We just lost our defensive mentality. Coach said we’ve been in these situations all the time when it comes down to the wire, so we just kept our composure, kept playing as a team, and we came out with a ‘W’.
On keeping it together after the South Alabama rally
“I think we started picking up our defense. Coach said our offense will always come to us. We’ve been going at each other in practice, and our defense got better. Some of our defense has won half of our games this season.”
South Alabama Head Coach Ronnie Arrow:
Opening Statement:
“You can’t spot a team like Western Kentucky the points we spotted them to start the game. The second half we actually beat them by two points—unfortunately it’s two halves. They’re a very good team. I’m proud of my guys and the way they came back and actually went ahead but they hit some big shots—some key shots—at the end of the game to put them ahead and keep them ahead.”
On rebounding:
“The game was won on rebounding. They out-rebounded us 10; they doubled us up on offensive boards. They kicked our tails on the boards. A lot of that was in the first half. We started with our smaller bunch and we had to go to our big bunch in a hurry because they were just kicking us on the boards—and that was the difference in the game.”
On taking the lead and then failing to score in the next four possessions:
“A lot of that was the same way the game went at their place. We took the lead with about four or five minutes to go—three or five points—and we had three turnovers the last minute and a half there. We turned the ball over, but the bottom line is the other team has to be able to do something with it. Mendez [Orlando Mendez-Valdez]—there’s a reason why he’s MVP. There is no one in this conference that withstood the pressures of an MVP more than him. I don’t care what conference it is. He makes that team go. [A.J.] Slaughter is a very good player—they arguably have the best backcourt, not only in the conference, but top-five to eight in the country. Those guys are tough and they make plays when it counts and that’s what you have to have to have a championship team.”
On WKU’s offensive rebounding:
“They just kicked us on the boards. It was a difference of seven or eight rebounds the first half and it wound up being 10. But 14 offensive rebounds—that leads to points. When you get beat eight points and you have 14 offensive rebounds, I would say that at least half of those led to points or fouls—so you are looking at 14 points and that’s the difference in the game.”
South Alabama DeAndre Coleman:
On rallying to take the lead but coming up just short:
"It was a hard fought effort. We knew we had to come back strong in the first five minutes. We fought back and came together and we showed them what we had but they’d bend but didn’t break.”
South Alabama Domonic Tilford:
On rallying to take the lead but coming up just short:
“It was a great comeback. They took our punch. They would bend but they didn’t break.”
On being a No. 6 seed but making it to the finals:
“It was very tough. Our team—our six seniors came together. We put everything on the line to see what we could get. We made it to the championship but just came up short."
