FINAL SCORE: Mississippi State 81, Western Kentucky 69

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” — 0-5 overall
Mississippi State "Bulldogs" — 5-2 overall

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — Mississippi State scored the first four points of the game on
free throws by Antonio Jackson and a layup by Robert Jackson...A jumper by
Filip Videnov got Western on the board with 17:24 remaining in the half (4-2),
but a tip-in basket by Robert Jackson with 17:01 remaining sparked a 10-2 MSU
run over the next the next 2:35 to give the Bulldogs a 10 point lead, their
long lead of the half, with 14:26 to play (14-4)...Western scored seven of the
next 10 points on a three by Tremain Rowles and two layups by Chris Marcus to
pull within six (17-11) with 10:16 in the half...The Hilltoppers were able to
chip away over the next 2:30 and pulled within two on a layup by Vidnov with
6:51 remaining (23-21)...A layup by Robert Jackson at the 5:09 mark sparked an
8-0 MSU run over the next 1:04 pulling its lead back to 10 (31-21) with 4:05
in the half...A three by Lee Lampley at the 3:50 mark started a 11-0 WKU run
over a 3:03 span capped by another three by Lampley giving the Hilltoppers
their first lead with 47 seconds remaining (32-31)...Mississippi St. was able
to regain the lead on a jumper by Tang Hamilton with 11 seconds (33-32), but
Marcus dunked a Vidnov miss at the buzzer to give Western Kentucky a 34-33
lead at the half...Marcus led Western at the break with 10 points and four
rebounds...Marckell Patterson paced the Bulldogs with 11 points and three
rebounds.

Second Half — After a Patterson free throw tied the game at 34 with 19:38 in
the game, a Marcus tip-in gave WKU a two point lead (36-34) with 19:03
left...The lead did not get above three points for either team as they battled
back and forth for the next nine minutes...A layup by Vidnov tied the contest
for the fifth time with 10:16 to play (54-54)....MSU scored the next four
points on a jumper by Todd Myler and layup by Robert Jackson to increase its
lead to four (58-54) with 8:45 remaining...Western pulled within one at the
8:12 mark on a three by Vidnov (58-57)...After a Tyrus Boswell layup increased
the Bulldog lead to three (60-57) with 7:00 left, WKU scored the next four
points on a Brian Allenspach layup and Nate Williams tip to regain the lead
with 6:12 to play (61-60)...A Boswell layup on the next possession gave
Mississippi State the lead for good with 5:36 on the clock (62-61), and
started a 12-4 Bulldog run that increased the lead to seven on an Antonio
Jackson free throw with 2:28 remaining...Western was able to pull within five
on a Lampley layup with 1:08 to play, but the Hilltoppers were forced to foul
and MSU scored nine of the last 11 points in the game, including five of eight
from the foul line to seal the victory.

COACHES’ QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "I was impressed again today with our rate of
improvement. It was anybody's ballgame until the last two minutes. We played
with much more poise for a longer stretch of the game today. We were looking
every bit as strong and as seasoned as we have, until the last two
minutes...Mississippi State has about four guys that are just pure
electricity. Our 3-2 zone was effective, but they started hitting some shots
against us, forcing us to go back man-to-man...We played our most compete game
today, which is what we wanted to do. The fist thing I told our team when I
went into the locker room is that we are going to be a very good team. I hope
we are learning from our mistakes, but we are not looking back. We are
looking ahead to our next challenge...We executed flawlessly at the end of the
first half. I called a timeout and wanted to go two-for-one...We scored those
last five points on the half on our poise and execution."

NOTES — First time this season Western has led at the half...The loss ended
a streak of 14 straight games won by the Hilltoppers when leading at the half
(Western dropped a 77-76 double overtime game to Arkansas-Little Rock on Jan.
18, 1998 after leading 37-28 at the half...Western was 11-0 when leading at
the half last season)...Most points scored by Western in the first half this
season (scored 30 in the first half at Southern Illinois)...Career high points
for Chris Marcus (15) in his first collegiate start (previous high 10 points
on two occasions this season)...Lee Lampley equaled his career-high with 19
points (scored 19 at St. Joseph's on Nov. 27)...Filip Vidnov also equaled his
career-high point total with 11 (had 11 against Evansville on Nov. 23)...Third
meeting between the two schools, and the first win by Mississippi State
(Western won 63-47 in Bowling Green in 1941, and 61-50 in New Orleans in the
semifinals of the 1959 Sugar Bowl Tournament)