FINAL SCORE: Western Kentucky 76, Arkansas-Little Rock 71

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky "Hilltoppers" — 3-9 Overall / 1-1 Sun Belt Conference
Arkansas-Little Rock "Trojans" — 3-10 Overall / 0-3 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — WKU came out hot and hit it's first 7 shots of the night,
jumping out in front 12-0 and going out in front 19-2 (at 15:36) on a bucket
inside by Chris Marcus ..... UALR notched it's first FG of the night on a
jumper by Troy Moore at 14:19 (WKU 21-6) and the Trojans stayed in game
solidly on strength of excellent FT shooting (16-18 in the half), scoring 16
of their 26 points in the half at the line ..... after 19-2 WKU lead, the
closest UALR got in the half was 26-18 (on a pair of FTs by Stan Blackmon at
7:51) ..... Alan Barksdale nailed a three for UALR at 11:29 (WKU 23-12) and
then the Trojans went dry from the floor, going without a FG for 11 minutes
and 19 seconds (until Barksdale hit his 2nd three of the night with just 10
left in the period) ..... UALR's Moore led all scorers at the half with 11 and
Lee Lampley led WKU with 9 ..... WKU's Tremain Rowles, a 6-4 guard, was the
top rebounder with 5 as WKU held a 27-16 edge on the boards at the half ......
UALR shot just 16.7% (4-24) in the half, but was 88.9% at the line.

Second Half — UALR got back into things in a big way with a 15-2 run (7 by
Stan Blackmon) that narrowed the gap to two (52-50) on a layup by Blackmon at
10:02 ..... but WKU scored 16 of the next 22 to pull back in front 68-56 when
Chris Marcus scored on a layup by Chris Marcus at 4:55 ..... then, two quick
threes by Alan Barksdale followed by a layup by Mark Green at 3:26 — all in
just 64 seconds — made is a 68-64 game and the Hilltoppers had to hold on for
dear life ..... a jumper on the left side by Blackmon at 2:06 cut the WKU lead
to one (69-68) ..... then, giving the Hilltoppers the margin they needed,
Nashon McPherson connected on a long three on the right side at 0:57 and WKU
led 72-68 ..... UALR's Alan Barksdale missed and Tremain Rowles for WKU;
Rowles was fouled at 0:25 and made both; UALR missed on a quick shot and
Rowles was quickly fouled again and made for FTs again to put the Toppers up
76-68 ..... Mark Green hit a 3 at 0:07 to make the final margin 5 points (WKU
76-71).

COACHES' QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "I've been concerned with our performance
level, so it's great to win on the road, hitting key shots and free throws
..... We won it with defense, but you have to have some offense and one
offensive play late was really big for us (Nashon McPherson's 3 at 0:57 that
put WKU up 72-68) ...... (about UALR comeback) I wasn't surprised. They got
their adrenalin flowing and they put some big streaks together. But, our guys
responded each time ..... We did a good job taking care of the ball,
especially with our primary ball-handler out tonight."

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers continue on the road, traveling to Arkansas
State for a Saturday, Jan. 15 (7:05 pm CST) SBC date with the Indians (live on
WKYU-TV, Channel 24, in Bowling Green) ..... The Trojans host Florida
International in SBC action Saturday, Jan. 15 (7:05 pm).
NOTES — Hilltopper soph guard Derek Robinson sat out the game serving a
1-game team suspension (for disciplinary reasons) and is expected to be back
in action Saturday at Arkansas State ..... tonight's game is the first Sun
Belt Conference to be played in Little Rock's new ALLTEL Arena ..... WKU's
first road win of the year ...... Nashon McPherson's 21 points equalled his
career-high (set versus Texas-Pan American on Feb. 5, 1998) ..... WKU's 3rd
straight win over UALR ..... Lee Lampley bounced back after missing the
Florida International game in Miami last Saturday with a sprained ankle to
score 14 points and grad 5 rebounds ..... Tremain Rowles' 7 rebounds equalled
his career-high ..... Todor Pandov scored a personal best 9 points (previous
high was 4).