FINAL SCORE: Louisiana-Lafayette 72, Western Kentucky 64

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky "Hilltoppers" — 7-15 Overall / 5-6 Sun Belt Conference
Louisiana-Lafayette "Ragin' Cajuns" — 20-6 Overall / 11-1 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — WKU drew first blood and jumped out in front 10-4 on a FT by
Lee Lampley at 13:27 ..... both teams struggled shooting and controlling the
ball (WKU 12 turnovers and UL 15) ..... UL caught up 15-15 on a 3 by Blane
Harmon at 7:52 and took it's first lead of the night on a bucket by Shea
Whiting at 7:19 (17-15) ..... WKU then got back-to-back FGs from Derek
Robinson and Filip Videnov (at 6:00) to take a 20-17 lead ..... The Cajuns'
Brett Smith put the Cajuns up 23-22 with a tip at 1:54 and added a FT at 0:56
and UL led 24-22 ..... but WKU came up with the final 5 points of the period —
a dunk by Todor Pandov at 0:27 and a three from the right corner by Nashon
McPherson at 0:03 — to go in with a 27-24 advantage ..... McPherson led WKU at
the half with 7 while Kenneth Lawrence came off the Cajun bench to pace UL
with 5 ..... UL guard Billy Jones was the game's top rebounder with 5 .....

Second Half — it was close in the early minutes of the 2nd half and WKU led
36-35 after a driving layup by Derek Robinson at 16:24 ..... but, then things
started to go the Cajuns' way in a big way ..... UL scored the next 10 points
in the game (6 by Orlando Butler) to take a 35-36 edge on a jumper by Butler
at 13:01 ..... WKU closed it to 3 (48-45) after back-to-back inside buckets by
Chris Marcus (the last at 11:17), but the Hilltoppers could get no closer
..... it was a 4-point game (55-51) after a three by Tremain Rowles at 6:48
and it was 63-58 after a dunk by Chris Marcus at 3:05, but the Cajuns kept the
Toppers at arm's length ..... WKU trailed 67-61 after another Rowles three (at
2:23), but UL scored the next 5 points in the game — a FT by Butler at 1:45;
a pair of FTs by Blane Harmon at 1:09; and a jumper in the lane by Brett
Smith at 0:10 — to take it's long lead of the game (72-61) .....

COACHES' QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "It was a tale of two halves ..... We set the
tempo in the first half and were in good shape ..... Then, in the second half,
the tempo was not what we wanted. We just let them score too often and too
easily ..... Still, we were in the game in the final minutes, but we just
didn't make the stops we needed to make ..... And, we got kicked on the boards
in the second half." (WKU held 18-16 edge on boards in first half, but got
outrebounded 18-11 in the final 20 minutes).

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers continue on the road, traveling to Ruston to
take on Sun Belt rival Louisiana Tech Saturday (Feb. 19) at 7 pm (CST) .....
The Cajuns host SBC foe Florida International Saturday (Feb. 19; 7:05 pm
CST).

NOTES — UL Lafayette leads the Sun Belt with it's 11-1 record ..... the
Cajuns have won 14 of their last 15 games ..... UL's 20th win tonight, marking
first 20-win season for the Cajuns since '93-94 team went 22-8 ..... UL shot
amazing 70.8% on FGs in 2nd half after hitting only 31.8% in first half .....
Cajuns sharp at FT line (20-27 — 74.1%) after coming into game with 61.7%
percentage for the year ..... despite loss, WKU still 5-5 in last 10 games
(after going 2-10 thru first 12 games) ..... UL had defeated WKU 86-77 in
Bowling Green back on Jan. 29 ....., career-high 4 steals for WKU's Derek
Robinson, who led team in scoring for 3rd time this season.