FINAL SCORE: Akron 75, Western Kentucky 62

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” — 0-4 overall
Akron “Zips” — 3-1 overall

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:

First Half — WKU fell behind 15-2 as the Hilltoppers didn’t hit a field goal
in the first 9:54 of the contest ... Zips scored first five points of contest
on layup from Jimmal Ball and three-point play by Ryan Andrick ... Derek
Robinson gets Toppers’ only points during opening run with a pair of free
throws with 17:59 left ... Akron scored next 10 points during 5:02 stretch —
its only field goal during the span was a three-pointer by Ball with 16:25
remaining ... Tremain Rowles ends Western’s drought from the field with a
three at 11:06 ... Trailing 17-7 with 9:16 left, Hilltoppers score six
unanswered points to cut deficit to four points on three-pointers from Rowles
(9:03) and Filip Videnov (8:14) ... Zips extend lead back to nine on three
from Ball at 6:41, making score 22-13 ... Akron goes without a field goal over
next 4:16 until Andy Hipsher tips in miss (UA’s only field goal over the final
six-plus minutes) ... Western holds Zips to four points over final five
minutes and draws to within three points at the break ... Videnov hits a
jumper at 3:11, and WKU goes 5 of 6 from the free-throw line the rest of the
way.
Second Half — Allenspach tipped in a Western miss to bring WKU within one at
19:35 ... Zips respond with three straight baskets on two layups from Jami
Bosley and a Ball jumper before WKU calls time out at 17:19 ... Lee Lampley
makes only field goal of game and Chris Marcus collects first two points to
make score 35-32 with 16:14 left ... Akron answers with 10-0 run over next two
minutes to build double-digit lead for good ... Ball started the spurt with a
layup at 15:56 — Andrick hit two field goals and Bosley was 4 of 4 from the
line during the run ... Rowles ends the run with jumper with 13:40 remaining
... Zips build lead to game-high 16 points on three occasions — the first
coming at 10:48 after David Falknor made both his free throws ... Hilltoppers
cut deficit back to 11 points with 8:24 left on a David Boyden layup and
jumpers from Robinson and Nate Williams ... Hipsher scores five straight
points for UA to keep Western at bay and push lead back to 16 (62-46) at 7:37
... Toppers respond with next six points — four came from Marcus on a dunk and
a pair of free throws — during a 1:25 stretch ... WKU goes without scoring
over next 2:25 until Videnov hits two free throws ... Behind 69-54 with 1:38
left following a Ball layup, Western then cuts deficit back to 10 points
during the next minute-plus ... Marcus makes a two layups and Boyden gets
tip-in for WKU’s final points at 0:27 ... Zip hit 3 of 4 free-throw attempts
in last 25 seconds.

COACHES’ QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — “I think we were better from an execution
standpoint. We’ve got to continue getting better, and we need to get
tougher. We were down five rebounds at the half, and we should not get
outrebounded. ... The inside game was a lot better tonight. We’ve really
been working hard on that. ... I wish our fans could have seen Chris (Marcus)
tonight. He was injured in the first half, but came back in the second half
and toughed it out. He was terrific. ... We did a better job of getting to
the line tonight, and we also shot it better from there. ... They came in
shooting 52 percent, and we held them to 31 percent. We made their best
scorers work hard for their points.”

NOTES — Marcus and Rowles led the Toppers with 10 points a piece, marking
the first time this season that Lampley — who entered the game as the only
Western player averaging in double figures — has not led the team in scoring
... Marcus’ double-double was his second in four games — he’s the only
Hilltopper to accomplish the feat this year ... Rowles was in double figures
for the first time this season ... Marcus also had three of the Toppers’ four
blocks, giving him 11 on the year — Nashon McPherson led Western with eight
all of last season ... WKU leads the series 6-2, though the Zips have won the
last two meetings ... The win was Akron’s first at home (in four tries)
against Western.