Hilltoppers Beat East Division-Leading FAU for Third Straight Win
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball continued its recent surge with a crucial home win in the Conference USA standings Thursday night, beating Florida Atlantic 76-69 at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Hilltoppers (13-11, 5-6 C-USA) shot 48.2% from the field and had four scorers in double figures, earning their third straight victory by taking down the East Division-leading Owls.
“It’s fun playing in Diddle,” sophomore guard Dayvion McKnight said. “Having the fans here, we’ve already got some momentum. Road wins, it’s hard to win there and if you’re not on your best game then you’ll lose like we did. But we brought a lot of energy, it was a good win for us.”
Graduate senior guard Camron Justice led WKU with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists. McKnight added 18 points, four steals and four assists.
After going scoreless in the teams’ first meeting in Florida, junior center Jamarion Sharp was dominant with 15 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks.
“For me, it was great,” Sharp said. “Whenever I dunk, I bring energy and I also bring energy to my teammates. It just circles around and we all bring energy to each other and that’s all that’s important.”
Senior forward Jairus Hamilton chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.
WKU led 13-8 early, but FAU went on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes.
The Owls (15-10, 8-4) took their largest lead of the half at 27-20 with 3:25 to play, but the Hilltoppers scored the final 10 points of the frame to lead 30-27 at the break.
WKU scored the first five points of the second half and led by as much as 11 at 57-46 with 9:25 to go after a 3-pointer by McKnight.
Florida Atlantic cut it to four with 2:22 remaining, but the Hilltoppers made eight free throws the rest of the way to keep them at bay.
“There were a lot of big stats tonight,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “The two big differences in the game we played down there was rebounding and Jamar. … He won that war tonight. So that was a huge difference in that stat right there. We rebounded the basketball pretty well, Jairus got nine. Dayvion is Dayvion every night. He got beat up early in that game on his elbow, thigh, he just kept pushing through it, kept fighting through it.
“… From that point on, we played five guys from there on out. And those guys, we found ways to outrebound them, we took care of that basketball. Always a big stat. We got to the free throw line and made free throws, 16 for 19. Good win against a really good team, I’m proud of our guys.”
Michael Forrest paced the Owls with 20 points and five assists.
