Darnell Harris scored 22 points, including his team's final 10, and Middle Tennessee survived a furious second-half comeback and hung on to beat Western Kentucky 66-64 on Saturday night.
Middle Tennessee (15-6, 7-2 Conference USA) led 36-18 at halftime and by 19 (41-22) early in the second half. Western Kentucky battled back, and took a 53-51 lead on an Aaron Crosby 3-pointer with 6:05 left.
But Harris hit a 3 which tied it at 59 with 3:19 to go, and then tipped in a Reggie Upshaw missed jumper to give Middle Tennessee a 65-64 lead with 10 seconds left. The two baskets were part of 10 straight points he scored for the Blue Raiders to close out the game.
Upshaw and Giddy Potts each scored 11 for Middle Tennessee.
Chris McNeal led the Hilltoppers (11-11, 3-6) with 18 points.
