WKU Basketball: Tops Take Down Colonels In First Road Game, 79–71

Western Kentucky were able to take down their old cross-state rival Eastern Kentucky in an ugly game for both teams in Richmond, 79–71.

Western Kentucky were able to take down their old cross-state rival Eastern Kentucky in an ugly game for both teams in Richmond, 79–71.

It definitely wasn’t the prettiest of games for the Tops considering they had 23 turnovers but Charles Bassey still had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting to lead WKU to victory. Carson Williams had 15 points and Josh Anderson, who played most of Jared Savage’s minutes due to an injury that Savage sustained, had 11 points off the bench. EKU’s Jomaru Brown led all scorers with 41 points. Please keep an eye out on our Twitter account for an update on Savage’s injury once there’s information to pass along.

Two of the biggest surprises were Jordan Rawls and Camron Justice. The true freshman point guard Rawls had a phenomenal game with 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting with two of his made shots being threes and played 29 minutes. On the other hand, Justice was 0-of-5 for the game and only had three points thanks to free throws. He just had 22 against Austin Peay so seeing him struggle this bad on the road wasn’t good. It’s amazing WKU even won this game with all things considered but they were still able to get things done on the road.

This game was a game of runs with one team going on a big run and then having a bunch of turnovers and then vice versa. WKU led by as much as 18 in the second half but thanks to a bunch of bad turnovers the Colonels came back and cut the lead to eight. WKU led at the half, 45–34.

While it was an ugly first road game, the Tops somehow pulled it out and are starting 3–0 on the season for the first time since the 2007–2008 season when the Tops went to the Sweet 16. They have countless issues they need to fix if they even want to think about going that far again but with Jordan Rawls coming to form in the absence of Kenny Cooper, who still hasn’t been cleared, does show some promise. There still hasn’t been a game where all five starters show up but once it happens, look for a massacre blowout.

Western Kentucky now prepare for the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands with a home game against Campbellsville Monday night that technically starts things off but the first real game in the tournament will be against Bowling Green State in a Battle of the Bowling Greens next Friday night.

Here is a link to the final stats for tonight’s game:

Western Kentucky vs. Eastern Kentucky - Box Score - November 15, 2019 - ESPN
Get box score updates on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. Eastern Kentucky Colonels basketball game.www.espn.com