Hilltoppers Move to 2-0 With 82-48 Win Over Kentucky Wesleyan

WKU Athletics Media Release

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball moved to 2-0 with an 82-48 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night inside E.A. Diddle Arena.

Teagan Moore led the Hilltoppers with 26 points and five steals, while Emondrek Erkins-Ford and Gabe Weis added 11 points apiece. WKU forced 20 turnovers, collected 17 steals and scored 46 points in the paint, building a 24-point halftime advantage before stretching its lead to as many as 34.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Kentucky Wesleyan opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, but EJ Walker and Teagan Moore answered with back-to-back triples to give WKU a 6-3 lead. Following a Panther free throw, the Hilltoppers put together a 10-0 run that included a dunk from Armelo Boone, two Moore layups, an Emondrek Erkins-Ford jumper and another basket from Boone to take a 16-4 lead with 15:11 remaining in the half.
• The Panthers ended the run with a free throw before a Sharron Young 3-pointer and a Gabe Weis dunk pushed WKU’s advantage to 21-5 with 11:53 to play. The Hilltoppers held Kentucky Wesleyan without a field goal for nearly nine minutes following its opening triple before the Panthers connected on a jumper with 10:53 remaining.
• Moore answered with a jumper and his second 3-pointer of the half to give WKU a 26-7 lead with 9:55 on the clock. Kentucky Wesleyan followed with a dunk before Joseph Adebayo threw down a dunk of his own to restore the 19-point advantage with 6:23 to play.
• The Panthers knocked down a 3-pointer before a Trevion LaBeaux jumper put the Hilltoppers ahead, 30-12, with 3:56 remaining. Kentucky Wesleyan added a free throw, but LJ Hackman made a pair at the line to push WKU’s lead back to 19 with 2:02 left. Following another Panther free throw, Moussa Konare scored the final six points of the half on a dunk, a layup and an alley-oop slam with two seconds remaining to give WKU a 38-14 lead at the intermission.
• Erkins-Ford opened the second-half scoring with a layup before Walker added a layup to push WKU’s lead to 28, 42-14, with 19:09 remaining. Kentucky Wesleyan answered with a dunk before another Moore layup restored the 28-point advantage. The Panthers outscored the Hilltoppers 8-1 over the next stretch to cut the deficit to 21, 45-24, with 14:16 to play.
• Moore scored WKU’s next seven points on three layups — including an and-one finish — giving the Hilltoppers a 52-27 lead with 12:30 remaining. Following a Kentucky Wesleyan dunk, Erkins-Ford connected from beyond the arc to push the advantage to 26 with 11:47 on the clock.
• The Panthers cut the deficit to 20 with back-to-back 3-pointers before a Weis triple and another Moore three-point play put WKU ahead, 63-37, with 7:48 remaining. Kentucky Wesleyan knocked down two more triples around a Konare free throw, but Weis answered with a 3-pointer and a free throw to give the Hilltoppers a 68-43 lead with 6:18 to play.
• WKU put together a 9-0 run with two Erkins-Ford layups, two Boone layups and a Walker free throw to take a 77-45 lead with 2:46 remaining. Kentucky Wesleyan connected on a 3-pointer before two Weis free throws and a Lawson Rice triple gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the game to close out the 82-48 win.

NOTABLES

• WKU improves to 2-0 on the season and 29-9 all-time against Kentucky Wesleyan.
• WKU’s starters for the game were Sharron Young, Armelo Boone, Teagan Moore, EJ Walker and Emondrek Erkins-Ford. The game marked Young’s first start as a Hilltopper.
• WKU has held consecutive opponents to fewer than 60 points for the first time since the 2021-22 season, when the Hilltoppers limited Ole Miss to 48 points on Dec. 11, 2021, and Centre College to 52 points on Dec. 14, 2021.
• Three Hilltoppers scored in double figures. Moore led the way with 26 points, while Erkins-Ford and Gabe Weis each added 11.
• Moore finished with a season-high 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including a 2-of-5 mark from 3-point range, and made both of his free-throw attempts. He added three rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals in 24 minutes. His 26 points are two shy of his career high.
• Erkins-Ford scored a season-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, knocking down his lone 3-point attempt. He added six rebounds, including three offensive boards, two assists, two blocks and two steals in 18 minutes.
• Weis contributed 11 points and five rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. He shot 3-of-5 from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 3-of-4 at the free-throw line.
• Moussa Konare finished with eight points, a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes off the bench. He went 3-of-4 from the field and collected six offensive rebounds.
• Boone recorded eight points, five assists, three steals and two rebounds in 25 minutes.
• Young matched Boone for the team lead with five assists and committed no turnovers in 28 minutes. He added five rebounds and three steals.
• Walker finished with six points, six rebounds and three steals in 25 minutes.
• Lawson Rice scored his first collegiate points on a 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining.
• WKU shot 41.6% from the field, hitting 32-of-77 attempts, and went 8-of-23 (34.8%) from 3-point range.
• The Hilltoppers connected on 10-of-14 (71.4%) attempts from the free-throw line.
• WKU collected 50 rebounds, including 21 offensive boards, and scored 20 second-chance points.
• The Hilltoppers recorded 17 steals and scored 25 points off 20 Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers.
• WKU dished out 19 assists against just nine turnovers, improving to 26-2 under Mahurin Family Foundation Head Coach Hank Plona when recording at least 14 assists.
• The Hilltoppers scored 46 points in the paint and added 15 fast-break points.
• WKU’s bench contributed 28 points, led by Weis’ 11 and Konare’s eight.
• The Hilltoppers blocked five shots, with Erkins-Ford and Konare recording two apiece.
• WKU led for 39:15, while Kentucky Wesleyan held the lead for just 15 seconds.
• The Hilltoppers held a 38-14 halftime lead and led by as many as 34 points.

QUOTABLES

• “Certainly happy to get our second win of the year. Winning is not easy, and I thought the guys did enough on the defensive end to continue to get off to a good start. I thought in the first half our defense was pretty sound. I thought we loosened up a little bit in the second half, which is probably human nature, but we’re trying to accomplish things this year that are not normal and are a little bit different. So, second half, definitely a lot that we can learn from. Kentucky Wesleyan is never going to lay down, no matter what the score is. They battle, they’re prepared, they try different things and they have a good focus and togetherness to them. So, all the credit in the world to them, and good luck to them the rest of the season. But some positives tonight from us, and certainly some things that we’ll watch the film in the morning and try to get better from. Obviously have a huge test on the road on Sunday in Cookeville versus Tennessee Tech, who, I think, has a chance to be an elite team this year. So, we know our work’s cut out for us, and got some work to do in the next 72 hours.” — Mahurin Family Foundation Head Coach Hank Plona, on the 82-48 win over Kentucky Wesleyan.
• “We were just trying to play confident and aggressive, no matter who was in front of us. When we play like that, it is going to be fun. Just playing hard, competing with the guys. Coach expects a high standard from us, and he just wants us to go at a fast pace and have fun while we do it. So, yeah, I think we did a good job.” — F Emondrek Erkins-Ford, on the team’s play style in the 82-48 win over Kentucky Wesleyan.
• “I think these first two games, we’re still an unfinished product. You’re not going to play your best basketball in November. So, just getting our feet wet and seeing how everybody plays in the course of a game, in the flow of a game, and just working off each other, playing off each other and getting better in practice, putting stuff on film and getting better every single day.” — G Teagan Moore, on what the team can take from the first two games.

NEXT UP

The Hilltoppers travel to Cookeville, Tennessee, for a road matchup at Tennessee Tech on Sunday, Nov. 8. Tipoff inside the Hooper Eblen Center is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT, with the game streaming live on ESPN+.