FINAL SCORE: Arkansas State 77, Western Kentucky 70

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” — 3-10 overall, 1-2 Sun Belt Conference
Arkansas State "Indians" — 4-11 overall, 1-3 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — Tight contest from the outset, with neither team holding more
than a six-point advantage through the first 16 minutes ... Hilltoppers take
the lead to open on Lee Lampley’s jumper at 19:33 ... ASU gets on the board at
19:18 on basket from DeShawn Denson ... Filip Videnov (19:04) and Chris Marcus
(16:42) give WKU two-point leads, but Indians answer each time ... C.J. Pepper
hits two free throws to give ASU first lead of game (8-6) with 15:40 remaining
... Kolin Weaver makes a pair of free throws and Jamie Rosser adds a jumper in
the lane to push lead to 12-6 with 13:35 left ... Toppers pull within one on a
Brian Allenspach free throw (12:45), a Lampley jumper (12:05) and a David
Boyden turnaround jumper (11:38) ... Geoff Williams puts back an Indian miss
at 10:47 to make it 14-11 ... Teams trade scores until Hilltoppers tie it at
21-21 on Jimmy Boykin’s jumper from the free-throw line with 5:48 left ...
Marcus gives Toppers two-point lead at 5:24 with layup ... Following two ASU
free throws, Toppers regain lead again when Derek Robinson makes both free
throws ... Weaver hits both ends of a one-and-one with 4:33 left to start a
14-1 Indian run over the next 1:51 ... Pepper lays it in after a steal to give
ASU the lead for good (27-25) at 4:24 ... Pepper again steals and finishes to
push advantage to 29-25 with 4:14 left ... Robinson hits front end of
one-and-one for Western’s only point during the ASU spurt at 4:05 ... Jon Beck
closes the run with a pair of free throws at 2:42 ... Lampley converts a
three-point play for WKU’s final points of the half with 2:28 remaining ...
Weaver nails a three-pointer for the Indians’ final field goal of half at 1:12
... Beck closing scoring making 1 of 2 free throws at 0:13.

Second Half — Boyden opens scoring for Western with bucket from wing at
18:50 ... Odie Williams answers for ASU at 18:38 ... Largest Indian lead of
the game was 15 points on layup from Rosser at 15:30 (51-36) ... Lead
fluctuated between 10 and 13 points first 16 minutes of half ... ASU leads
68-57 at 3:12, WKU scores next seven to cut deficit to four ... Marcus starts
the run with a layup, Boykin adds a three-pointer at 1:59 and a follow by
Marcus at 1:38 ends the spurt ... Two free throws at 1:33 from Fletcher starts
stretch in which ASU goes 7 of 8 from the line to end the contest ... After
free throw from Boyden at 1:12 (70-65), Indians get two free throws apiece
from Pepper (0:51) and Fletcher (0:35) ... Lampley gets Western’s final basket
with three at 0:08 ... Denson closes contest at other end with dunk with 0:02
remaining.

QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — “It was a hard-fought game. We knew it would
be an emotional outcome, they needed a win really bad. ... I’m proud of our
guys, we fought like hell. We’re starting to show some of the grit that we’ve
been talking about. ... There’s no doubt that turnovers hurt us tonight. We
had more than we could afford to have. ... ASU has good team quickness. They
were hard to contain on their drives, and defensively it allowed them to press
us the whole game.”

NOTES — Marcus collects career high in points, previous high was 15 at
Mississippi State on Dec. 4 ... Western leads the all-time series 12-7, but
has dropped five of the last six meetings.

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers conclude a four-game road trip with their final
non-conference game of the season at Belmont in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday at 7
p.m. CST ... ASU begins a three-game Sun Belt road trip at Denver Monday at 8
p.m..