Box Score BOWLING GREEN, Ky. ? WKU's Steffphon Pettigrew scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Hilltoppers (9-4, 3-0 Sun Belt) to a 79-47 victory over UALR on Saturday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Trojans (9-5, 2-1) fell into a 14-0 hole at the start of the game, after going scoreless for the first 10:16, and never recovered.
“I thought Ken (McDonald) and his staff did an outstanding job. They got after us in every phase of the game. They were outstanding defensively and were much more aggressive than we were,” said UALR head coach Steve Shields. “We are at a soul-searching stage with our basketball team at this point.”
Pettigrew went 12-of-16 from the field en route to a career-best 27 points, and added a game-high seven rebounds for the Hilltoppers. WKU built a 20-point lead at the half, 35-15, and dashed any hopes of a Trojan comeback by shooting 66.7 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes (16-of-24).
UALR committed a season-high 28 turnovers and shot just 34.9 percent from the field in the loss. The Trojans earned 29 trips to the foul line, but converted just 15 of their free throws (51.7 percent). Senior Brandon Patterson finished with team highs of nine points and six rebounds, while freshman Lionel Foster totaled eight points and three steals off the bench.
The Hilltoppers opened the game with a 14-0 run as UALR went scoreless over the first 10:16 of the game. WKU forced the Trojans into one turnover after another, as UALR committed 12 turnovers before senior John Fowler finally put UALR on the board with a made free throw at the 9:43 mark. A layup by senior Shane Edwards with 9:14 on the clock marked the Trojans' first field goal of the game, and made it a 17-3 contest.
Pettigrew single-handedly outscored the Trojans in the first half, scoring the team's final nine points of the half to give WKU a 35-15 lead at the break. Pettigrew totaled 17 first-half points off 7-of-10 shooting, and added a team-high five rebounds.
The Trojans committed 16 first-half turnovers, which limited them to just 16 field goal attempts ? of which they made four (25.0 percent). UALR's 15 first-half points were the fewest by a Trojan team since scoring 14 points at Middle Tennessee on Jan. 10, 2005.
UALR returns to action Thursday when it hosts North Texas at 7 p.m.
