West Pennyroyal News

Tops Open Three-Game Homestand with Roadrunners

WKU Hilltopper Basketball is looking to start fresh in the month of February with a three-game homestand beginning on Thursday night with UTSA. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and will tip at 7 p.m. CT.

 

WKU hopes to stop a five-game skid, most recently falling at #21 Florida Atlantic on Saturday, 70-63. UTSA has lost eight straight, starting with a loss to WKU on Jan. 7 and ending with a 66-55 loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

 

WKU is 8-3 all-time against the Roadrunners including a 3-1 mark in Bowling Green. Head coach Rick Stansbury is 6-3 against UTSA in his career.

WKU VS. UTSA SERIES BREAKDOWN

Overall History: WKU leads 8-3

Series Record in Bowling Green: WKU leads 3-1

Last Meeting: WKU 74, UTSA 64 | January 7, 2023 | San Antonio, Texas

WKU Hilltopper Basketball never trailed in its 74-64 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners. The Hilltoppers snapped a five-game losing streak and picked up their first Conference USA win of the season.

 

The Hilltoppers opened up the game on a 9-2 run. The Roadrunners displayed some fight, cutting WKU's lead to just 18-17 by the 8:37 mark. Following a 3-point play at that timestamp by Jacob Germany, the Tops would hold UTSA to just one bucket the rest of the period.

 

Jamarion Sharp kickstarted what would result in a 20-3 run for WKU to close out the half.Emmanuel Akot followed it up with a layup and a pair of free throws before Luke Frampton and Jairus Hamilton each sunk a 3-pointer.

 

By the end of the half, all five starters had contributed at least two points to the stellar run, creating a 38-20 lead at the break.

 

Out of halftime, UTSA scored first with back-to-back 3's. While that could've easily changed the momentum of the game, the Hilltoppers kept their cool, responding with a 11-4 run.

 

It was a back-and-forth half until UTSA's Josh Farmer scored six straight points over the course of three minutes. It contributed to a larger overall Roadrunner run of 11-4, cutting WKU's lead to 58-48 with just under eight minutes remaining.

 

The Tops once again had an answer with six points between Tyrone Marshall, Akot and Sharp. UTSA was able to come within six as the game approached the two-minute mark, but Akot shut down the Roadrunners with a major 3-pointer off the wing, icing the game.

 

Four Hilltoppers were in double figures in the points column. Akot led all scorers with 16 points, six boards and two assists. Sharp logged a double-double of 12 boards, 11 points and six blocks. Frampton hit six from the charity stripe, amounting to 12 total points with three assists, three steals and some key hustle plays. McKnight notched 15 points with eight boards, three assists and three steals.

 

WKU forced 17 Roadrunner turnovers, scoring 25 points off of said turnovers. The Tops also outrebounded UTSA 39-34 and logged 16 assists on 26 buckets.

 

John Buggs III led UTSA in scoring with 15 points.

Original source can be found here.