BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball couldn’t get much going Saturday in its non-conference finale, falling 79-62 at home to Belmont at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Hilltoppers (7-5) shot 34.8 percent from the field, including 22.2 percent from 3-point range, while Belmont shot 48 percent and made 11 3's.
It was the Bruins’ seventh straight win over WKU, including six consecutive seasons.
“I thought the biggest thing with us was offensively in the first half,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “I just didn’t think the ball moved well. I thought the ball stuck, I thought we had too many quick shots, I thought we had some forced shots. And I haven’t really said that all year long. We dug ourselves a hole.”
WKU missed its first 11 3-pointers of the game and had just two assists before the break, and Belmont went on a 13-4 run late in the first half to build a 15-point lead.
Freshman guard Jordan Rawls knocked down the Tops’ first 3 just before the buzzer to trim their deficit to 36-24 at the break.
The Hilltoppers came out of the locker room and cut Belmont’s lead to 42-37 by the 16:38 mark, but the Bruins scored eight straight points to end the spurt.
They eventually led by as much as 19 with 5:42 remaining.
“We didn’t share the ball well tonight, and that’s on everybody,” Savage said. “That’s not just on the point guards. That’s everybody on the team. We’ve got to flow better than that. It was stagnant on offense. The second half we got it moving a little bit when we made that run, but we can’t give them a 12-point lead and try to fight back from that. They’re too good of a team to try to do that.”
Redshirt junior forward Carson Williams paced the Hilltoppers with 12 points and seven rebounds, while redshirt senior guard Jared Savage finished with 10 points and seven boards.
Junior guard Josh Anderson added 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Tyler Scanlon’s 18 points led five players in double figures for Belmont (9-4).
The Hilltoppers turn the page to Conference USA play with two home games, starting with North Texas at 6 p.m. CT Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena. The game will air on ESPNU.
