FINAL SCORE: Western Kentucky 62, New Orleans 60 (overtime)

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky "Hilltoppers" — 6-13 Overall / 4-4 Sun Belt Conference
New Orleans "Privateers" — 8-11 Overall / 4-4 Sun Belt Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — WKU opened the scoring with a tip by Chris Marcus at 19:51 and
the Hilltoppers led the entire half ..... UNO closed it to 1 (8-7) on a
driving layup by Ben Adams at 12:10 ..... an 8-0 WKU run improved a 15-11 WKU
lead to 23-11 when Lee Lampley connected on a three at 5:10 ..... UNO then
scored 10 of the next 12 (including a pair of threes by Desmond Baxter) to
close the gap to 25-21 on a layup by Nathaniel Bailey at 1:54 ..... a three by
WKU's Nashon McPherson at 0:54 sent Western in at the half with a 28-21
advantage ..... WKU's Marcus and McPherson led all scorers at the half with 8
points each and Marcus was already in double figures on the boards with 11
..... Baxter and Adams led UNO with 6 each ..... WKU held a big 20-9 edge on
the boards and the Hilltoppers shot 48% from the floor, compared to 32% for
UNO.

Second Half — Lee Lampley scored the first 5 points of the half (including a
three), pushing WKU up by 12 (33-21) and the Toppers led by 8 after a pair of
FTs by Lampley at 14:18 ..... UNO then got on a roll, scoring 12 of the next
14 points to take a 40-38 lead on a three by Baxter (who had 8 of the 12) at
12:01..... team swapped lead a couple of time, but UNO extended run to 21-9,
taking a 6-point advantage (49-43) on a layup by Baxter at 5:25 ..... but, WKU
then scored 8 in a row and 11 of next 13, catching up at 49-49 on a pair of
McPherson FTs at 2:34 and taking a 54-51 advantage on a McPherson bucket and
FT at 1:20 ..... but, Baxter tied it up with another 3 at 0:20 ..... WKU's
Filip Videnov hit from 12 feet at 0:08 (WKU 56-54), but UNO's Bailey scored in
the lane at 0:02 to send game into OT.

Overtime — Chris scored and added a FT to put WKU up 59-56 at 4:18 and UNO
never led in the OT ..... however, a dunk by Adams at 1:56 tied it up 60-60
..... McPherson then hit 1-2 FTs at 1:48 and WKU defense held (big block & reb
by Lampley at 0:52 inside) and Lampley added a FT at 0:11 for final points of
the game ..... Lampley's steal at 0:01 prevented Privateers from getting shot
to tie it.

COACHES' QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "It wasn't pretty, but we stepped up and got
stops and rebounds when we had to, more than we should have had to because of
our turnovers ..... We expected a war, a low-scoring defensive battle ..... We
knew we had to go inside and take advantage of our size and Chris (Marcus)
just killed them ..... In the end we made the plays ..... This game was very
similar to (Saturday's) Louisiana-Lafayette game. We controlled much of the
game, but they came on strong late. But, tonight we answered ..... We've had
5 games in 10 days and we've won 3 of them and the 2 we lost were to the 2
best teams in the league. I'm real proud of the way we've handled this
stretch ...... We've proved we can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the
conference."

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers take an 8-day break before traveling to Mobile
to face Sun Belt rival South Alabama Wednesday (Feb. 9) at 7:05 pm ..... The
Privateers face SBC foe Louisiana Tech on the road Thursday (Feb. 3; 7 pm
CST).

NOTES — Fourth double-double in a row (and 7th of the season) for Chris
Marcus; also a career-high 17 rebounds (previous high 13) and his 18 points
equalled the career-high 18 he scored last Thursday night vs. Louisiana Tech —
all in a career-high 35 minutes; hit 7-11 FGs tonight; he's 26-35 (74.3%) on
FGs in last 4 games ..... 29 turnovers a season-high for WKU ..... WKU now 2-0
in OT games this year (defeated South Alabama 92-88 in OT at home on Jan. 22)
..... UNO had won last 9 OT games on it's home floor (since Dec. 10 loss to
South Alabama in 1988) ..... win snaps 2-game losing steak for WKU ..... UNO's
Desmond Baxter came into game hitting 45.6% on threes and made good on 5-6
tonight ..... lowest point total in victory for WKU this season ..... UNO's
3rd two-point decision in 5 days (1 win, 2 losses).