Jim Mashek

HILLTOPPERS REMAIN A WORK IN PROGRESS UNDER FIRST-YEAR COACH STEVE LUTZ

It wasn’t really a competitive game, but that’s not the point.

The Western Kentucky men’s basketball team remains a work in progress, or, as first-year coach Steve Lutz put it a couple weeks ago, the Hilltoppers are “evolving.”

WKU played host to Campbellsville University, an NAIA squad from the Mid-South Conference, on Wednesday night before a paid crowd of 2,702 at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Tigers clearly didn’t have the chops to hang with the Hilltoppers, who were looking for some solid footing after dropping two of three games over the weekend at the Northern Classic in suburban Montreal.

Senior guard Khristian Lander, one of the four holdovers from former coach Rick Stansbury’s final WKU squad, took the initiative in this one, giving the Hilltoppers a significant lift in their methodical 101-77 victory over Campbellsville.

The 6-foot-3 Lander was the first player off the WKU bench and he made his 21 minutes on the floor count, finishing with a game-high 22 points, along with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“I’ve just been in the gym, extra heavy,” Lander said with a smile when it was over. “Trying to build my confidence up, and it worked out for me.”

Lutz likes to emphasize that the five players on the court that finish the game are of greater importance than his starting five, and players such as Lander, former University of Kentucky swingman Dontaie Allen and WKU forward Babacar Faye, a 6-foot-8 junior from Senegal, proved that point in Wednesday night’s matchup with Campbellsville.

The minutes among the 10 WKU players who spent at least 14 minutes on the floor were pretty evenly distributed on Wednesday night, and the Hilltoppers never trailed against their opponent from Campbellsville, Kentucky, which dropped to 8-3 on the season after the contest.

Western Kentucky, meanwhile, will take a 5-3 record into Sunday evening’s game against former Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Kentucky University at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Colonels will take a 3-2 record into the game, and sophomore guard Turner Buttry — a former Bowling Green High School star — is one of EKU’s first players off the bench, averaging 8.2 points per game.

“Tonight was a step forward to getting ready to play (EKU),” Lutz said. “The state of Kentucky will be watching, just like our game at Murray State.”

The Hilltoppers hit 18 of 21 free throws and held off a late challenge from the Racers to defeat Murray State, 86-81, on November 14 in Murray, Kentucky. It was probably the Tops’ most complete performance of the season.

“We talked a lot, in between getting back from Canada and tonight about sharing the basketball,” Lutz said. “And trusting your teammates … We have good individual talent, but as I’ve said from the day I arrived here at this university, the best team usually wins …

“Tonight, I thought they trusted one another.”

WKU point guard Don McHenry, the team’s leading scorer, settled into a facilitator’s role against Campbellsville. He had four points and four assists in nearly 16 minutes on the court.

Senior forward Tyrone Marshall had some material for the highlights reel in the first half, and Marshall and WKU teammate Brandon Newman each had 15 points. Enoch Kalambay, a Canadian and a transfer from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College, gave the Tops energy on both ends of the floor and finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

“We have more than five starters on this team,” Lutz said. “There’s no real drop-off, from one through eight or nine (key players) … We can play small (lineup) if we have to …

“I know our (shooting) numbers aren’t great; they keep me up at night. We have to be a better basketball team moving forward.”

The Hilltoppers hit 12 of 35 (34.3 percent) shots from 3-point range, while the Tigers finished 7-of-29 (24.1 percent). Sharpshooter Coby Penny led Campbellsville with 21 points while teammates Jace Wallace and Tyrelle Hunt added 19 and 14 points, respectively.

Western Kentucky has won 12 of its last 13 games against Eastern Kentucky, including last year’s 66-60 victory in Richmond, Kentucky. The Hilltoppers will have six non-conference games in December before opening Conference USA play on January 6 against Liberty University at E.A. Diddle Arena.