BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (2/11/10) - The Arkansas State men's basketball team was unable to overcome a 79-68 deficit as the host Western Kentucky Hilltoppers had four players in double-figures handing ASU its fourth Sun Belt loss Thursday at the E.A. Diddle Arena.
ASU fell to 14-10 on the season with a 9-4 league mark, while WKU moved to 14-12 with a 7-6 Sun Belt record.
Freshman guard Brandon Reed led the Red Wolves with 20 points while Daniel Bryant had 15 and connected on three three-pointers for ASU.
"They (WKU) were better than us tonight," said ASU head coach John Brady." In our last two games that we have lost on the road we gave up too many points and had a poor field goal stat. Those things were too much for us to give up to beat a team like this on the road. We battled and won the rebound war so we kept playing and trying but we just couldn't stop them. They made every big shot and we would try to make a run and they would squelch us."
As a team, A-State was 9-9 from the charity stripe and was 27-64 from the field for 42.2% shooting. WKU shot 29-56 for 51.8% and was 15-22 from the free throw line.
ASU was outscored in the paint 40-34 but did outrebound the Hilltoppers 36-33. Brandon Peterson pulled down a career-high 13 boards to lead all players in the category and was 2-2 from the charity stripe. Trey Finn and Jeremy Thomas each added eight points for the Red Wolves.
The opening basket by Finn gave ASU its only lead of the contest. On the ensuing possession Sergio Kreusch scored two of his 21 and Steffon Pettigrew converted a layup to give WKU a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Kreusch and AJ Slaughter each had 21 points to lead all players.
At the Half ASU trailed by eight 40-32 but came out strong in the second half cutting the lead to six when Finn hit a jumper just 40-seconds into the frame. That would be the closest that ASU would get as WKU stretched its lead to 15 when Cliff Dixon dunked the ball at the 7:41 mark.
A pair of free throws by Martavius Adams and a jumper by Reed got ASU within eight in the final four minutes.
The Red Wolves will play four of their final five games at the Convocation Center beginning with facing ULM on Monday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
