Thu, Nov 26 2009
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TOPPER SHOCKER! By FRED GOODALLAssociated Press “But you have to give them a lot of credit. They made the last shot and it looked like it was going to go that way, the team with the last chance in their hand was going to win.”
The irony was that Drake did everything it wanted to do defensively on the last possession. During the final timeout, Davis said he was having visions of some historic NCAA buzzer-beating, gamewinning drives, a la Danny Ainge for BYU or Tyus Edney for UCLA. So he told his players to stop the drive, extend the defense and make a Hilltopper shoot from deep if at all possible. “Even though it might be easier to lose by 20 and not play your best game and not do anything right, you want to go out with your best effort,” Davis said. “And I think we did today.” Western Kentucky rejects the notion it is just another mid-major team trying to make a name for itself in the NCAA tournament. The Hilltoppers have a history of success that proves they belong. Although it was their first victory on college basketball’s biggest stage since a six-point overtime win against Michigan in the opening round in 1995, the Sun Belt tournament champs are in the NCAAs for the 20th time. They’ll try for their first trip to the round of 16 since 1993 on Sunday. Brazelton led a dazzling display of 3-point shooting, and the Hilltoppers were beating Drake at its own game while building a 76-58 lead with 8 minutes to go. They finished 14-of-28 from beyond the arc, with Brazelton going 6-for-10. Skeptics questioned how Drake, which had a 21-game winning streak from Nov. 14 to Feb. 13, would hold up under the pressure of such a high seed in its first NCAA appearance in 37 years. For 32 minutes, not so well. The Bulldogs trailed 74-56 before pulling themselves out of a funk that began during a stretch in which they missed eight consecutive 3-point shots and watched the Hilltoppers pull away to a nine-point halftime lead. Cox keyed Drake’s comeback, capping a 30-14 run with a 3 that made it 88-88 with 30 seconds to go. Josh Young also heated up at the right time for the Missouri Valley Conference champions, making three straight 3s to help the Bulldogs catch up and take a 96-92 lead in overtime. Klayton Korver scored 21 and Young finished with 18, but they combined with Drake’s other big scorer, Leonard Houston, to go 11-of-35 on 3-pointers. Emmenecker, the MVC player of the year, also struggled from the field, going 0-for-10, although none of those shots was among the 42 3s that Drake took. The former walk-on went 11-of-12 from the foul line and had 14 assists. 
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