WKU Basketball: Bearden Leads Tops to 73–63 Win Over Charlotte
As they always say, “a win is a win.” Saturday was a pure example of that as the Hilltoppers defeated Charlotte 73–63 to improve to 13–5…
As they always say, “a win is a win.” Saturday was a pure example of that as the Hilltoppers defeated Charlotte 73–63 to improve to 13–5 (5–0 C-USA) on the season.
The first half featured a lethargic performance from the Red and White. To start, it was all Lamonte Bearden, who rolled off the first seven points of the game for the Hilltoppers.
The Buffalo transfer finished the half with 11 points, but the rest of the team struggled to shoot from the field. Not counting Bearden’s shooting, the Hilltoppers combined to shoot just 22.6% in the half.
The good news? Charlotte couldn’t find the bottom of the net either as the 49ers shot just 26% from the field.
It was a different story to start the second half as the shots started falling for both teams. WKU brought their lead out to double-digits before Charlotte fought back to cut the Tops’ lead to six.
At that point, the Tops looked flat and had a lack of energy, but it was a fade away three from Bearden that put the Tops back on top by nine.
From there, it was the Josh Anderson show. The freshman from Louisiana scored all nine of his points in the second half. Each point showed his athleticism and added excitement to an otherwise dull game.
Lamonte Bearden finished with 19 points to lead the Hilltoppers in scoring. While he didn’t have his best game shooting, Justin Johnson did pull down 14 rebounds, which put him in 10th place in WKU history in overall rebounds.
Overall, this wasn’t a performance that this team should remember. For one of the first times all season, the Tops were outplayed in the paint and they couldn’t seem to get the shots around the basket that they have grown accustomed to all season.
The Hilltoppers improve to 13–5 (5–0 C-USA) before arguably their most important three game stretch of the season coming up. They will face UAB on Thursday at Diddle at 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network before MTSU comes to town.