Box Score

FINAL SCORE: Western Kentucky 89, Team Concept 63

RECORDS:
WKU — 0-0 Overall / 0-0 Sun Belt Conference (1-0 in exibition season)
Team Concept — 1-3 overall

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:

First Half — WKU guard Derek Robinson got things going with a three at 18:57 and, after an 8-8 tie with just over 16:00 to go, the Hilltoppers ran on out to an 20-point advantage (33-13 -- on a 3 by Tremain Rowles at 6:13), outscoring Team Concept 25-5 in just under 10 minutes of action ..... but, then the well went dry on WKU ..... Team Concept's Scott Hale nailed a FT at 6:12 and the visitors went on to outscore the Toppers 22-5, narrowing the gap to 38-35 on a 3 by Greg Walker (who scored 8 of the 22 in that rally) at 0:09 before Western's Derek Robinson threw in a 40-plus-footer at the buzzer to send the Hilltoppers in with a 41-35 edge ..... Team Concept's Walker led all scorers at the half with 13 while Robinson led Western with 8 (along with 4 assists) ..... WKU freshmen David Boyden and Nate Williams came off the bench to lead all rebounders in the first half with 5 each ..... and, Topper newcomer Chris Marcus (a 7-1 sophomore who sat out last season) was credited with 3 blocked shots.

Second Half — Western jumped out early again with a 7-0 run to start the half and increase its lead to 11 points capped off by a three by Rashon Brown with 17:37 on the clock... Robinson helped spark another Western run with a three at the 15:11 mark as the Hilltoppers outscored Team Concept 8-0 over the next five minutes to increase its lead to 20 points (61-41) before Team Concept's Greg Taylor stopped the run with a three with 10:44 to play... WKU shot in the bonus for the remainder of the game, making 8-of-10 FT's down the stretch...Western increased its lead to as many as 27 points (78-51 with 4:23 left) and Team Concept never got closer than 17 points (68-51 with 7:46 left.)

COACHES' QUOTES:

WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "It is clear that we're not as good as we're going to be, but tonight's game was a chance to teach our players the areas we have to improve... Our players discovered how hard playing defense is going to be... We know our stuff and we are executing well for this point in the young season... We are fatiguing easy because we are so young. Some of our players have never been asked to play this hard."

Team Concept Head Coach Tim Cook — "In the scouting report, we discovered that they had a lot of size, so we planned to play a zone. However, we were burned early. Their good shooting shot us out of it... If their big men develop the way their guards have already, Western will have a good season"

NEXT GAME – Western will play its final exibition game next Friday (Nov. 12) against Marathon Oil at 7 p.m...WKU opens the regular season Saturday, Nov. 20 at Southern Illinois at 7:05 p.m.

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