Balanced Toppers roll to easy victory

Nov. 27—BOWLING GREEN — Ultra-balanced Western Kentucky placed six players in the double-digit scoring column and cruised past overmatched South Carolina State 90-64 in a men's college basketball game on Saturday afternoon in E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Hilltoppers improved to 7-1 heading into Wednesday's non-conference tilt at Austin Peay.

"The one thing we were concerned about was how we would respond after playing our fourth game in six days," said WKU head coach Rick Stansbury, whose team won two of three games in the recent Cayman Islands Classic. "I thought our guys showed up today ready to play. We shared the basketball, we rebounded the basketball, we did a lot of things well.

"We did all the things we were supposed to do in this one, and we played the whole way as a unit — that's the most pleasing thing about today's performance."

After closing the first half with a flourish, Western opened the second half in the same fashion.

Leading by 17 points at intermission, the Hilltoppers got a trio of 3-pointers from Luke Frampton in a torrid 18-6 blitz — shooting in front 65-36 on a putback by Emmanuel Akot with 13:33 to play.

South Carolina State, winless in seven outings, scored six straight points to pull within 68-44 at 11:07, but reserve forward Tyrone Marshall hit two 3-pointers and scored Western's next eight points to push the Toppers ahead by 30 with just over nine minutes to play.

The Bulldogs never got closer than 23 the rest of the way.

"We're still learning about our basketball team," Stansbury said, "and we will continue to learn about our team as we go along."

Western dominated the opening half.

Frampton and Akot hit bookend 3-pointers as the Hilltoppers opened with a 10-0 burst in the first three-and-a-half minutes.

The Bulldogs broke the streak with a basket by Cameron Jones, but Frampton drilled two more triples as Western responded with a 12-2 run that made it 22-4 at 12:32 of the first.

South Carolina State stitched together a 7-0 spurt to pull within 31-21 on a Justin Wilson dunk at the six-minute mark, but Akot and Jairus Hamilton each hit 3-pointers in a 16-9 run to close the half — providing the Tops a 47-30 lead at intermission.

Frampton, who hit 6-of-10 shots from beyond the arc, scored 18 points to pace the Hilltoppers, who also got 17 points from Akot, 16 points from Marshall, 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds from point guard Dayvion McKnight, and 12 points and nine rebounds from Hamilton, with 7-foot-5 center Jamarion Sharp adding 10 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks.

"It was great to come back home and get a win in front of our fans," McKnight said. "We took care of business and got the job done.

"We've got a good team and we're all on the same page. We all have the same goal and that's to get this program back to the (NCAA) Tournament."

Western shot 50% from the floor, including 39% from distance (13-of-33), and outrebounded the smaller Bulldogs, 50-26. The Hilltoppers passed for 22 assists with 13 turnovers.

Leshown Hallums scored a game-best 21 points for South Carolina State, which was limited to 42% shooting from the field, including just 2-of-15 accuracy from 3-point range (13%).