ASU men’s basketball fall late against WKU in semifinals

The Red Wolves’ dreams of earning an NCAA bid ended this Saturday. They ended up losing to WKU 58-58 in a game that came down to the final possession. 

Senior Brandon Peterson led the Red Wolves offensively with 10 points and grabbed 12 boards along with Trey Finn who added 10 points and four rebounds as ASU watched a potential game winning three point shot with seconds to go hit the back iron.  

“I just wanted to go out there and give everything for my teammates and coaches,” Peterson said.

ASU’s 19 wins this season is the program’s most successful since 1997-98 season and is also the most in head coach John Brady’s tenure at Arkansas State to go along with back-to-back West Division Titles.  

ASU set the tone early defensively holding WKU to two for 17 (11.8%) from the field and held their largest lead of the game 13-7 midway through the first half. They allowed WKU to go on a 15-2 run and went into the half trailing 28-26.

The Achilles heel for the Red Wolves were turnovers, having committed 12 in the first half leading to eight points for Western Kentucky. 

“I thought our team played extremely hard and the effort we gave was good enough to win,” Brady said. 

The Red Wolves trailed the majority of the second half and faced as much as a 9-point deficit.  The team managed to finally break through with five minutes left in regulation when Trey Finn knocked down a three pointer to tie the game at 48-all.

 WKU regained the lead soon after, but Cameron Golden’s three point basket gave the Red Wolves their first lead since midway through the first half, putting ASU up 53-51. 

The Hilltoppers regained the lead 57-56 and after WKU missed one of two free throws, allowed the Red Wolves one last possession with 13 seconds left, but Golden was unable to connect in the final seconds.  

“I’m not going to allow anyone to say that this group of young people didn’t have a successful basketball season and if I hear anybody say it I will challenge them on it because they worked too hard, they come too far, they won some big games,” Brady added.  “These seniors stabilized this program.”