WKU Basketball: Tops Pick Up First Win, Handle Kentucky Wesleyan 83–53
WKU picked up their first win of the season on Wednesday against the Division II Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers in an 83–53 victory in front of…
WKU picked up their first win of the season on Wednesday against the Division II Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers in an 83–53 victory in front of 3,844 fans at E.A. Diddle Arena.
WKU started the game on a 10–2 run on the strength of three assists from Lamonte Bearden. From there, the Panthers didn’t come within striking distance the rest of the game.
Against a smaller Panther’s squad, Dwight Coleby quickly put his foul prone debut behind him as he got 14 of his 19 points in the first half while also committing zero first half fouls. WKU led 41–29 at the half against the over-matched Panthers.
During the opening minutes of the second half, the Tops went on a 10 point run that put the Panthers away for good.
It was a balanced effort for WKU, as the eight scholarship players all pitched in nine points or more, two or more rebounds or one or more assists. The Tops would sleep walk through parts of the game but spurted out the final eight minutes to win comfortably by a 30 point margin.
There’s not a whole lot that you can takeaway from this one other than the fact that the Tops didn’t struggle at all against a team they needed a double overtime buzzer beater to escape last season.
After scoring team high 24 against Missouri State, Lamonte Bearden tried to show his point guard skills, dishing out five assists to go along with his 11 points.
Against an undersized front court, Coleby and Justin Johnson combined for just five fouls. It was encouraging to see Marek Nelson match up against the Panthers power forwards; with the lack of depth down low, we’ll need him to replicate his 12 point and seven rebounds in the future. The three big men had 25 of WKU’s 43 rebounds.
WKU returns to action on Sunday against Nicholls State (1–1) before they have a date with #5 Villanova on Wednesday to kickoff their Bahamas trip in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
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