BOWLING GREEN, Ky.?Western Kentucky utilized a deep bench and strong rebounding to overmatch a tired Arkansas State squad, 87-63, in men's basketball action Saturday night.
ASU (7-12, 2-3 SBC) couldn't overcome the effects of playing five games in 10 days, four on the road, and the fresher Hilltoppers (12-4, 4-0 SBC) simply wore down the Indians on this night.
Trailing by 15 at 41-26 at halftime, the Indians came out slowly to start the second half and watched helplessly as the Hilltoppers began the half on a 15-5 run, sparked by a pair of 3's from Benson Callier and a thunderous dunk by Elgrace Wilborn. ASU called a timeout at the 15:52 mark and WKU relaxed to begin substituting the bench, which woke the Indians up.
Still trailing by 24 at 60-36 with 14:34 left to play, ASU began chipping away at the deficit. By the time the 9:41 mark rolled around ASU was within 10 at 64-54. The Indians utilized an 18-4 run to slice the WKU lead after Dereke Tipler scored nine points during that stretch and Marcus Ardison accounted for six.
But that was it for the Indians. WKU sent all the starters back in the game at that point and quickly regained control of the game, going on a 14-4 run over the next 3:30 to put away the Indians.
Tipler scored a team-high 17 on the night, 13 of which came in the second half. Lorenzo Hampton shook off a nagging shoulder injury to score 14 as the only ASU players to reach double figures. Korrel Henderson saw his first action for the Indians and played well, scoring eight points in just seven minutes, missing a shot at double figures by missing all three of his free throw attempts.
WKU was paced by Callier's 21 points in just 24 minutes. Anthony Winchester and Courtney Lee added 14 each while Daniel Emmerson scored 10 points and hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Rebounding was the biggest key of the game as the ?Toppers crashed the offensive glass all night. That effort helped WKU to 24 offensive rebounds on the night, just one fewer than ASU's total overall. The Hilltoppers owned the rebounds to the tune of a 2-to-1 margin, 50-25, over ASU.
The Indians hung tough with the ?Toppers to start the game, leading for much of the first 13 minutes. ASU took a six-point lead with 7:57 left to play in the opening half when Hampton connected on a layup, giving ASU a 23-17 lead.
But as happened on Thursday against Middle Tennessee, ASU couldn't sustain the effort and began to fall behind. WKU would end the half on a 24-3 run to put ASU in a 15 point hole at the break.
ASU finally comes off the road for a stretch of four straight home games and six of seven in Jonesboro, starting with a Thursday night tilt against SBC West preseason favorite Denver. Tip-off for that game is slated for 8:05 p.m. and is being televised on ESPN+ as part of the Sun Belt Conference package.
