FINAL SCORE: Western Kentucky 77, Arkansas-Little Rock 51

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” — 10-16 overall, 8-7 Sun Belt Conference
Arkansas-Little Rock "Trojans" — 4-23 overall, 1-15 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — UALR gets on board first on Laverne Smith jumper from the elbow at 19:40 — he goes on to score 10 of the Trojans’ first 12 points ... David Boyden ties score with 17-foot jumper at 19:21 ... Trojans take biggest lead at 8-4 when Smith makes three-pointer from right wing with 16:10 remaining ... Western takes the lead for good with 10-2 run, going up 9-8 on Derek Robinson trey with 14:07 to go ... Smith ends spurt with UALR’s first field goal in 4:24, a driving layup at 11:44 ... Hilltoppers take first double-digit lead when Nate Williams nails both free throws at 6:40 (24-14) ... UALR closes gap to six points with back-to-back baskets from Stan Blackmon and Smith (24-18 with 6:04 left) ... Nashon McPherson three with 5:41 remaining starts 19-5 run to close the half for Toppers ... Tremain Rowles converts three-point play and closes stretch of 15 straight WKU points with layup at 1:20 ... Smith scores Trojans’ first points in 5:10 with three-pointer from top of key at 0:54 ... Chris Marcus hits two buckets in final minute as Western leads 43-23 at the break.

Second Half — McPherson opens scoring in half with jumper from the free-throw line at 19:27 ... Blackmon gets UALR’s first points at 17:59 with jumper from the corner (47-25) ... Toppers extend lead to 56-27 — their largest of the contest — with 15:47 left on Marcus hook ... Western leads 59-30 when Trojans score eight unanswered points to make it 59-38 with 10:41 to go — Alex Finger scores four points during run with layup and two free throws ... Western responds with the next nine points over a 3:19 span, beginning with Lee Lampley free throw at 10:28 ... WKU matches biggest advantage for the second and final time when McPherson hits 1 of 2 free throws with 6:00 left, making score 69-40 ... Lampley hits final basket in Diddle Arena at 3:19 (73-45) ... Brian Allenspach scores Toppers’ final points with layup at 1:37 ... Blackmon closes out scoring with three-point play at 1:12.

QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — “I’m really happy with our performance tonight, and I’m happy with the maturity we’re developing. ... I was concerned at halftime how we would handle the big lead. I was also concerned that UALR could light it up from three. ... We just came out and played better defense in the second half than we did in the first.”

UALR Head Coach Sidney Moncrief — “I felt that the best team won the game. ... Their offense executed well, and their defense pushed us out. ... We’ve played well the last five games. We were due to have a bad game. I guess it’s better to have a bad game now than in the tournament.”

NOTES — Marcus leads Western in scoring for the eighth time this season and has his 11th double-double of the season ... Lampley scores in double figures for the 17th time this year in his final home game ... Rowles ties season high off the bench with 11 points — also had 11 against Austin Peay on Dec. 29 and UALR in the first meeting on Jan. 13 ... Robinson has second double-figure assist game of his career, falls one shy of tying career high set against Murray State on Dec. 7 this season ... Western shoots season-best 55.6 percent from the field ... Hilltoppers win three straight games for first time since Feb. 20-28, 1999 ... WKU has won the last four meetings in the series and leads all-time 17-6 — the Toppers have won 10 of 12 meetings in Bowling Green ... UALR will be the ninth seed at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which the Trojans host from March 4-7.

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers conclude the regular season with a Sun Belt contest at Denver Monday at 8 p.m. CST ... UALR ends its regular season tonight.