Tops dispatch Panthers to move to 2-0
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Western Kentucky’s Emondrek Erkins-Ford (13) looks to pass during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Armelo Boone (left) looks to drive past Kentucky Wesleyean’s Jorge Sanchez-Ramos during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Teagan Moore puts a up a shot during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Gabe Weis dunks during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Emondrek Erkins-Ford (13) drives to the basket during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Trevion LaBeaux (23) attempts to gain possession during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s Sharon Young (3) drives to the basket during Western Kentucky’s 82-48 on Thursday, November 5, 2026 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team took care of business Thursday night at E.A. Diddle Arena, dispatching Kentucky Wesleyan 82-48 to complete a tidy two-game homestand sweep to open the season.
After rolling to a 25-point win against Morehead State in Monday’s season debut, the Hilltoppers stayed sharp with a defensive effort and a commanding rebounding edge to create plenty of transition opportunities. WKU collected 50 rebounds, including 21 offensive boards, and scored 20 second-chance points. The Hilltoppers tallied 17 steals and scored 25 points off 20 Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers.
“We like to use our defense to turn into offense and we like to use our length and our instinct, and get our hands up and try to not rip the ball away from the guy you’re guarding but almost force him to throw a contested, off-target pass and the next guy can get the steal,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “No different than football – the linemen out there putting their hands up, trying to make the pass harder and then the secondary guys get the steal. It’s kind of the same concept.”
WKU (2-0) answered the Panthers’ game-opening 3-pointer with back-to-back 3s by EJ Walker and Teagan Moore. After a KWC free throw, the Hilltoppers put together a 10-0 run that included a dunk from Armelo Boone, two Moore layups an Emondrek Erkins-Ford jumper and another basket from Boone to take a 16-4 lead with 15:11 remaining in the half.
Moore’s jumper and his second 3-pointer of the half to gave the Tops a 26-7 lead with 9:55 left in the first half. Kentucky Wesleyan followed with a dunk before Joseph Adebayo answered with a dunk of his own with 6:23 to play.
Moussa Konare scored the final six points of the half on a dunk, a layup and an alley-oop slam with two seconds remaining to give WKU a 38-14 lead at the intermission.
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The Panthers cut the deficit to 20 with back-to-back 3-pointers before a Gabe Weis 3-pointer and another Moore three-point play put WKU ahead, 63-37, with 7:48 left in the game. KWC hit two more 3-pointers around a Konare free throw, but Weis answered with a 3-pointer and a free throw to give the Hilltoppers a 68-43 lead with 6:18 to play.
A 9-0 spurt with two Erkins-Ford layups, two Boone layups and a Walker free throw gave the Tops a 77-45 lead with 2:46 remaining. Kentucky Wesleyan hit a 3 before two Weis free throws and a Lawson Rice 3-pointer gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the game to close out the 82-48 win.
Moore finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting. The redshirt junior guard also tied Sharron Young for the team lead with five steals.
“I think these first two games, we’re still an unfinished product,” Moore said. “You’re not going to play your best basketball in November. So, just getting our feet wet and seeing how everybody plays in the course of a game, in the flow of a game, and just working off each other, playing off each other and getting better in practice, putting stuff on film and getting better every single day.”
Erkins-Ford added 11 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks. Weis also scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds.
Rice, a redshirt freshman guard from nearby Butler County High School, scored his first collegiate points with the second-half 3-pointer. Rice missed his entire senior season of high school and sat out last season at WKU after having knee surgery for a torn ACL.
“There’s some rust he’s got to shake off, but there’s just a lot of learning too,” Plona said. “Lawson’s kind of a forward when we recruited him and you think in those 24 months that he didn’t play that his game was going to expand and obviously he could become a wing or become a guard and instead of that happening the last 24 months it’s kind of happening right now. So there’s some things that he’s still learning and figuring out. But man, he is an unbelievable teammate. He’s an unbelievable worker.”
The Hilltoppers will face their first road test on Sunday against Tennessee Tech (1-1). The Golden Eagles opened with a 106-88 loss at Mississippi State on Monday, then rolled to a 117-70 home win against Blue Mountain on Wednesday. Sophomore forward Caleb Sanders is averaging 20 points a game to lead a squad averaging 102.5 points an outing.
“Obviously have a huge test on the road Sunday in Cookeville versus Tennessee Tech who I think has a chance to be an elite team this year,” Plona said. “So we know our work’s cut out for us and we’ve got some work to do in the next 72 hours.”
Game time Sunday is 2 p.m. CT in Cookeville, Tennessee. ESPN+ will have the live stream.
About Jeff Nations
Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News
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