When Camron Justice is hot, so is Western Kentucky.

Behind a team-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including a 5-of-7 showing from three-point range, the graduate transfer guard led the Hilltoppers to a 97-75 win over Austin Peay on Saturday afternoon at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Justice scored 17 first-half points and was 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from deep to help WKU (2-0 overall) take a 41-25 lead into the locker room at the break. Alongside Justice, junior guard Taveion Hollingsworth finished with 21 points, while redshirt junior forward Carson Williams scored 12 points.

“I got going early, so maybe I do need to look into being the offensive punch early for us and kind of get us going and set the tone,” Justice said.

Redshirt senior guard Jared Savage tallied 11 points and sophomore center Charles Bassey added 10 to give WKU five players in double figures. Junior guard Josh Anderson had 9 points, and freshman Jordan Rawls scored 8 points and dished out five assists in 22 minutes.

Western shot 60 percent (30-of-50) as a team and outrebounded Austin Peay 37-28.

“We shot 60 percent for the game,” WKU coach Rick Stansbury said. “We got to the free-throw line 29 times, shoot 88 percent from the free-throw line. We outrebounded ‘em. Things to work on, but some areas I was very pleased with.”

The Toppers return to action Friday on the road at Eastern Kentucky. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at McBrayer Arena in Richmond.

WKU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead but APSU (1-1) soon had it tied at 8-all at the 16:20 mark of the first half. The Hilltoppers went back up 13-10 at the 14:37 mark as Justice had already scored 7 points and was 3-for-3 from the floor.

The Tops went scoreless for 2:59 before Justice knocked down a deep 3-pointer from the right wing to end the drought. Williams followed up Justice’s four-point play with a putback off a Savage miss to put WKU up 28-18 and trigger a Governors’ timeout.

Justice remained hot and splashed a 3 from the right wing, was fouled and made the free throw to push WKU’s advantage to 36-23 – and it soon took its 16-point lead into the half.

“He hadn’t shot the ball great to this point. I really wasn’t concerned about it because I see him shoot it every day, so what he did tonight was more of what I see,” Stansbury said of Justice. “I’m not saying he’s gonna go 5-for-7 every night, but he’s a capable shooter.”

Antwuan Butler had scored 8 points for APSU at the break and finished with 13. Terry Taylor – a Bowling Green native – scored 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to lead the Governors.

WKU pushed its lead to 51-29 at the 17:16 mark of the second after a pair of free throws from Hollingsworth, and Justice buried his fifth triple just minutes later to extend the Toppers’ advantage to 20.

Rawls’ 3 with 10:24 remaining put Western up 70-50, and Savage’s deep ball with 6:07 left increased the Hilltoppers’ lead to 80-59. They soon went up 90-66 after a jumper from Bassey to seal it with just over left to tick.

“He’s coming along good for the season to just be starting,” Hollingsworth said of Rawls. “He’s catching on to a lot of the older guys and what we do. He’s watching what we do in practice, and a lot of us are telling him a lot of stuff. I feel like he’s taking it in pretty quick.”