WKU scores 46 in first half, comes away with win over Marshall

Western Kentucky played a lackluster opening half last Saturday against Louisiana Tech and made it clear that it can’t afford to get off to sluggish starts.

The Hilltoppers were much, much better in the first 20-minute segment Friday afternoon.

Hosting Conference USA rival Marshall at E.A. Diddle Arena, WKU scored 46 first-half points while building multiple double-digits leads and used its strong efforts in the frame to come away with an 81-73 win over the Thundering Herd.

WKU (10-4 overall, 3-2 C-USA) shot 28-of-59 (47%) from the field — including an impressive 19-of-21 (90%) mark from the free-throw line. Charles Bassey led the way for the Toppers with 21 points and a career-high 19 rebounds, while Josh Anderson scored 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Jannson Williams led Marshall (7-3, 1-2) – which shot 30-of-71 (42%) – with 19 points.

The Tops and Herd will face off again Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W.Va.

The two sides played a competitive, back-and-forth opening half, as Marshall held a tight 10-8 lead at the 14:40 mark. Soon down 18-14, a 9-0 run — highlighted by a Kevin Osawe 3-pointer — put WKU up 23-18, and a 7-0 spurt made it 30-20 in the Hilltoppers’ favor with 6:27 remaining in the first.

Marshall quickly cut its deficit down to 3 at 30-27 with a quick 7-0 run that was powered by Jannson Williams’ triple, but WKU answered with one of its own to go back up 10 at 37-27 with 4:10 left.

Taevion Kinsey scored inside to bring the Herd within 40-32, but the Tops continued to stay in front and took a 46-34 advantage into the locker room at the break.

Anderson’s big dunk put WKU up 50-40 at the 16:55 mark of the second half, and Carson Williams’ first basket of the contest made it 58-49 with 13:00 left.

Another 3 by Jannson Williams brought the Herd within 60-54 at the 11:06 mark, and he splashed another shortly after to make it just a one-point game at 60-59 with 10:05 remaining.

Bassey scored five straight points for WKU to make it a 71-63 advantage, and Jordan Rawls scored inside to keep it an eight-point lead. Bassey later threw down another dunk with 28 seconds on the clock to put the Toppers up 81-73 and seal it.