KSU bench celebrates during a win over WKU at Propst Arena on March 12. Photo courtesy of KSU Athletics
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Trey Simpson’s 26-point night helped lead men’s basketball to a 96-87 win over Western Kentucky in the Conference USA Championship quarterfinals Thursday at Propst Arena.
After an initial 30 minutes in which Kennesaw State held a lead by as many as large as 11 points, WKU’s Teagan Moore knocked down a three-pointer in transition to tie the game at 72-72 the first tie since the opening minute.
The Owls regained the lead shortly after on a tip-in from Trey Simpson, who followed a missed three-pointer from Frankquon Sherman and they never relinquished the lead again.
With 1:43 remaining, Sherman scored a second-chance layup and was fouled in the process. After converting the three-point play, the Owls led 88-82.
RJ Johnson made all of his final four free throws to help KSU see out the victory.
“Great hard-fought victory today against a very well-coached team in Western Kentucky,” Owls coach Antoine Pettway said. “We knew it was going to be a tough battle, it’s always hard if you beat a team twice to try to beat them a third time, but we weren’t wavering in our belief and we came out and we fought and we competed.”
Simpson finished the night with a team-high 26 points, two shy of his career-high of 28.
“It felt great,” Simpson said. “The work that I put in day in and day out just trying to display what I’ve been doing and that’s how I came out and performed.”
After being sidelined for last year’s event, Johnson made his debut in the CUSA Championship tournament and said being able to watch earlier games in the tournament helped with what to expect from the intensity level, but he knew the Owls wouldn’t be matched in the category.
“We knew [the intensity level] because we got to watch a game or two before we got to play, so we saw how intense the other teams were playing and we wanted to take it up another level. You know, I feel like the team we have, we’re young, but we also got a heart to us, like a grittiness that other teams don’t have and they’re not willing to take it to a place we’ll go.”
In his hometown of Huntsville, Johnson finished with 18 points and six assists.
Sherman was also instrumental in the victory, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season.
Braedan Lue scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and Amir Taylor scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting to also reach double figures.
Moore led all scorers with 27 points for the Hilltoppers.
The win sets up a matchup with No. 2 seed Sam Houston State in the semifinal round on Friday at 3 p.m.
“We’re going to go out there and compete,” Pettway said. “We’re going to play the guys we’ve got dressed to play, and we’re going to give it everything we got.”
