After a poor shooting performance in the first half, Western Kentucky (3-3) came roaring back to defeat UT-Martin (3-4) in a close, back-and-forth contest at Diddle Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Hilltoppers trailed the Skyhawks 38-34 at halftime and were facing a five-point deficit with 10:38 left in the second half but managed to outscore their opponents 29-9 down the stretch to remain undefeated at home.
Senior forward Jairus Hamilton led WKU's offense with 24 points and 11 rebounds while going 8-of-15 shooting and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Camron Justice was also a key offensive weapon in the victory with 17 points and four assists.
Luke Frampton and Dayvion McKnight tallied 16 points each. McKnight also recorded six assists and five rebounds in the victory
Junior center Jamarion Sharp got his second consecutive start and tallied six points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
The Skyhawks' offense was carried by graduate guard Darius Simmons who dropped 21 points and two assists.
Junior forward David Didenko had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Western Kentucky was 51% (29-57) from the field, 37% (7-19) from beyond the arc and 84% (16-19) from the free throw line. Additionally, the Hilltoppers outrebounded the Skyhawks 40-30 in the contest.
UT-Martin was 39% (26-66) from field goal range, 41% (13-32) from three-point range and 100% (1-1) from the free-throw line. The Skyhawks had 11 turnovers compared to 14 for the Hilltoppers. UT-Martin also took advantage of turnovers, scoring 20 points off mistakes while WKU had 18.
In the first seven minutes of play, several lead changes occurred until 13:25 when the Skyhawks went on a 6-0 run.
Luke Frampton broke a nearly three-minute scoring drought at 11:07 when he drilled a three-pointer to cut WKU's deficit to three-points.
With less than ten minutes remaining, WKU was 1-of-9 from the field and on a scoring drought that had lasted the past two minutes.
At 2:18, Camron Justice nailed a three-pointer to give the Hilltoppers a 32-30 lead over UT-Martin and force a Skyhawks timeout.
The lead changed coming out of the timeout as the Skyhawks pulled ahead of WKU. At halftime, the Hilltoppers trailed UT-Martin 38-34.
Hamilton and McKnight were the top offensive contributors in the first half as Hamilton had nine points, five rebounds and one assist while McKnight had nine points, two rebounds and two assists.
The Skyhawks offense was being led by David Didenko who had 12 points, two rebounds and one assist. Behind Didenko was Darius Simmons with 10 points and two assists.
The Hilltoppers struggled to shoot efficiently in the first half as they were 40.0% (12-30) from the field and 30.0% (3-10), from beyond the arc. WKU was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.
The Skyhawks were 42.9% (15-35) were on target for 50.0% (8-16) of their three-point shots and 0% from the free-throw line.
The Hilltoppers struggled with turnovers with 10, which resulted in 15 points for the Skyhawks.
With 7:15 remaining, the Hilltoppers were red-hot and in the midst of a 10-0 run on 4-of-4 shooting that forced a UT-Martin timeout as WKU held a 62-57 lead.
The Hilltoppers extended their lead in the final minutes to defeat the Skyhawks 81-66.
Western Kentucky retunrs to Diddle Arena on Tuesday night to host Rhodes College. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
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