FINAL SCORE: Western Kentucky 83, Denver 71

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” — 5-11 overall, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference
Denver "Pioneers" — 3-16 overall, 1-8 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:

First Half — Hilltoppers lead through the first four minutes, starting with Nashon McPherson’s three-pointer from the left wing at 19:28 ... Kevin Overton puts Denver on the board at 19:03 with two free throws ... Toppers extend lead
to five on back-to-back baskets from Chris Marcus at 18:41 and 18:17 ... Teams trade scores with David Boyden’s layup giving Western an 11-6 advantage with 16:36 to go ... Wahhab Carter makes two free throws at 16:25 to start 10-0 DU
run that gives the Pioneers the lead ... Ty Church three-pointer ties game (11-11) at 16:11 ... Carter dunk with 15:47 remaining gives DU first lead ...Run closes on B.J. Pratt three-pointer from the left wing, Pioneers up 16-11 with 15:16 remaining ... Toppers answer with 14-2 spurt to take back lead ...Run starts on Lee Lampley bank shot at 14:13 ... Marcus makes 1 of 2 free throws with 12:53 remaining to ties score 16-16 ... After swapping scores, Lampley hits three from the right wing at 10:27 to give WKU lead for good ...Derek Robinson makes both free throws with 8:42 left to push Western advantage
to 25-18 ... Carter three from top of arc at 7:59 ends run ... Carter completes three-point play at 6:48 to draw DU within one ... Western takes control with 13-2 run over 4:38 beginning at 6:17 when McPherson hits both ends of a one-and-one ... McPherson adds layup (5:31) and Robinson makes 1 of 2 from the line to make score 30-24 with 5:17 to go ... Brandt Wilcox scores only Pioneer points during spurt at 4:32 on 10-foot jumper ... Filip Videnov makes two layups and Marcus dunk closes spurt at 1:31 (40-26) ... Carter makes layup with 53 seconds remaining ... Videnov scores Western’s final points of half with two free throws at 0:29 ... Arthur Ireland makes three-pointer and Carter nails 17-foot jumper as time expires to pull DU to 42-33.

Second Half — Ireland opens the scoring in the half with 1 of 2 free throws at 18:40 ... Lampley hits turnaround jumper on the baseline for Western’s first points at 17:34 (44-36) ... DU makes 3 of 4 free throws to close to
44-39 with 16:15 remaining ... Pratt three-pointer from the right wing makes score 50-47 Western with 13:28 to go ... After Brian Allenspach makes 1 of 2 from the line at 13:08, Ireland makes reverse layup to pull Pioneers within
two with 12:55 left ... Toppers pull ahead with seven straight points, ending on Marcus dunk, and lead 58-49 with 10:44 remaining ... Teams trade threes, then Pioneers score five consecutive points and trail 61-57 at 8:46 ... Marcus scores six straight points to give WKU double-digit lead (67-57) with 7:13 remaining ... DU answers with nine in a row — Ireland scores five during streak with three-pointer and two free throws — to pull within one point (67-66) at 5:26 ... Teams trade scores with Pratt’s two free throws drawing DU within one point for the final time at 4:30 ... Derek Robinson helps seal win
by scoring eight straight points over 2½ minutes to give Western 77-68 edge with 1:23 to go ... Lampley makes 1 of 2 free throws on consecutive trip to extend lead to 11 with 1:06 left ... Tom Starkey hits three at 0:54 for Pioneers’ final points ... Hilltoppers close out victory with a pair of free throws from Robinson (0:43) and Lampley (0:05)..

QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — “This game was another example of what three-point shooting can do to overcome many things. We dominated them, but their three-point shooting kept them in the game. ... We knew they were going
to press and trap all game. ... We made it a little more difficult than it had to be. ... For second game in a row, our team showed good poise. We could have panicked, but we stayed under control. ... It was another game that had a tough ending.”

DU Head Coach Marty Fletcher — “I’d like to give Western Kentucky credit for a good game. ... We weren’t able to make them turn it over as much as we needed to. ... It was a tough game, but a fine game. ... I was proud of the way our guys fought, especially being undermanned.”

NOTES — Marcus ties career high in points (also 17 at Arkansas State on Jan. 15) and grabs career-best 13 boards for team-leading fourth double-double ... Lampley has led Toppers in scoring in four of their five wins; also
career-high 4 assists ... Robinson posts career-high rebounding total ...Western shoots season-best 54.5 percent from the field (66.7% in the first half) ... Hilltoppers have won four of five games at Diddle Arena this season and six of the last seven at home ... WKU’s first win over Denver evens the all-time series at 1-1 — DU defeated the Hilltoppers in the only previous
meeting 84-63 in the 1957-58 season ... First Sun Belt meeting between the two schools ... Denver falls to 0-7 when giving up 80 or more points.

NEXT GAME — Western continues a four-game Sun Belt homestand against Louisiana Tech Thursday at 7 p.m. CST ... DU return home to face Arkansas-Little Rock in an SBC contest Monday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. (MST)