California Baptist University
7-4,1-1WAC
Western Kentucky University
10-3,0-0CUSA
Comeback Attempt Falls Short Despite Daniels Career Night
12/19/2023 10:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University men's basketball team's comeback attempt came up short on Tuesday evening, losing to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 73-70 after being down by as many as 20.
The loss dropped CBU to 7-4 on the season and 5-3 at home. The game was the second-ever meeting against a Conference USA opponent and was the first of the WAC-CUSA Scheduling Initiative.
PLAY-BY-PLAY:
The Hilltoppers came out on fire to begin the game, quickly opening up a 19-7 lead on the Lancers in the game's opening seven minutes. The Lancers would stop the bleeding with a 5-2 run, but the Hilltoppers would balloon their lead to 20 with 6:11 to play in the first half. CBU and WKU would exchange baskets through the end of the period, and the Hilltoppers would hold a 42-28 lead going into halftime.
WKU would not relent to start the second half and still had a 58-41 lead with 13 minutes to play. From that point, the Lancers would mount a comeback effort and went on a 12-2 run to close the deficit to seven at 60-53. WKU would keep the Lancers at arm's length and would catapult their lead to 73-59 with 5:20 to play.
The Lancers illustrated their teams' resolve and fight and did not allow a single Hilltopper point from that point forward. During the same period, the Lancers scored 11 unanswered points and forced four Hilltopper turnovers to get the game back within reach. WKU fouled Yvan Ouedraogo with ten seconds on the game clock; Ouedraogo missed the first free throw and purposely missed the second to have a chance at an offensive rebound. Ouedraogo collected the offensive rebound and gave CBU a clean look on a three that would rim out, and the Hilltoppers walked away with the 73-70 win.
CBU outscored WKU 42-31 in the second half and shot 44% from the field compared to 37% for the Hilltoppers.
STATISTICAL NOTABLES:
Dominique Daniels Jr. was the story of the night for CBU, scoring a season-high 32 points on an efficient 10-19 shooting. Daniels was 9 for 11 at the charity stripe and canned three triples to help lead the CBU comeback effort. Daniels also provided a highlight reel slam off an Ouedrago lob, reminiscent of the one he threw down in the road win at UCR in the last game.
Hunter Goodrick collected his second double-double for the season and his fifth double-digit rebound effort with ten points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Ouedraogo chipped in 11 points on five made field goals and hauled in seven rebounds. The Lancers would ultimately equal the Hilltoppers field goal percentage, with both teams shooting 41% on the night, but WKU would outshoot the Lancers from the perimeter by a margin of 44% to 17%.
CBU held a sizable advantage in points in the paint, outscoring the Hilltoppers 42-30 in that department. The Lancers also held WKU to nine points under their season average and their fifth-lowest output of the year.
NEXT: The Lancers will have a little over a week off for Christmas before returning to the Fowler Events Center to face the Chicago State Cougars on Wednesday, December 27, at 7 PM.
