BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Bearkats are on a winning streak.
Sam Houston punched Western Kentucky in the mouth from the opening tip to coast to its first Conference USA road win of the season with a convincing 78-62 victory at E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday evening.
The Bearkats (11-16, 4-10) have now won three in a row after opening league play 1-10.
Lamar Wilkerson flirted with a triple double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while
Erik Taylor and
Cameron Huefner each added 11.
Sam Houston took a commanding lead in the first half and steadily built on it throughout the game to deal the Hilltoppers (14-12, 5-8) their worst home loss since 2019.
Huefner made back-to-back 3s to make it 53-33 then Wilkerson connected on a jumper.
Cheikh Ndiaye slammed a putback home, and
Brennen Burns knocked in a 3 for a 25-point lead, the largest of the game.
The dagger came with five minutes to go when Wilkerson rained a 3 to make it 72-52 after a short run by WKU.
It was that kind of night for the Kats offensively. They shot 45 percent from the floor as almost everyone who saw action scored with Boykin adding 10, Burns and
Kalifa Sakho chipping in eight each and Ford and Hammons finishing with six.
The Bearkats came out focused and went to work from the opening tip. Burns sank a 3-pointer, then consecutive baskets by Ford, Wilkerson and Ndiaye and five unanswered points by Taylor made it 23-13 midway through the first half.
A long-range bomb by Hammons, and an old fashion three-point play by Sakho put Sam Houston up 17. Taylor drilled another 3 late in the half to send the Kats into the break up 43-25.
Defense also had a huge hand in the Bearkats taking a double-digit lead. They held the Hilltoppers to just 26 percent shooting and without a field goal for a five-minute stretch that allowed Sam Houston to lead by as many as 20 several times.
The Kats stay on the road and take a short bus trip south to battle Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ with the audio call on BSN.
