Jan. 16, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Patrick Sparks has been leading the Western Kentucky University men's basketball team in the distribution department all season. On some occasions, he tops the squad in scoring too.
The sophomore had 15 points and nine assists to help the Hilltoppers to a 78-59 Sun Belt Conference victory over New Orleans at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Western extended its home winning streak to 28 games, tying nationally-ranked Alabama for the third-longest in the country, and has won its last 20 league contests at home. The Hilltoppers (10-6, 3-1 Sun Belt) lead the all-time series, 14-7, and have claimed the last five meetings between the two schools. UNO fell to 9-6, 2-2 in the SBC.
"I'm really, really pleased with the way we played tonight," said Hilltopper head coach Dennis Felton. "We came out and played with the aggressiveness that we wanted to. I thought we continued to improve, and we were able to play our young guys quite a bit because of the command that we had."
Sparks - who picked up his 100th assist of the season - tied a season-high with four three-point field goals and led all players with four steals. It's the third time this season he has paced the team in scoring.
David Boyden and Mike Wells added 14 points each, both shooting better than 50 percent from the floor, and Nate Williams posted 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Anthony Winchester chipped in with nine points and three assists off the bench.
Wells opened the scoring for Western with a three-pointer 19 seconds into the contest, but UNO responded with four straight points, taking a 4-3 lead at 17:52 when A.J. Meredith converted both free throws. The teams traded scores, with the Privateers taking their second and final advantage, 7-6, less than a minute later.
Another Wells three-pointer sparked a 23-2 Hilltopper run over the next six minutes, giving WKU the lead for good. Wells nailed another three and Sparks followed with a three-point play as the Toppers took a double-digit lead for the first time, 19-7, with 13:05 to go. Boyden added back-to-back baskets, Sparks hit a three-pointer, and Winchester added three points to complete the spurt.
Ben Wilson made consecutive threes for UNO to make the score 32-15 with 8:14 left, but the Privateers only managed to cut their deficit to less than 20 points one more time the rest of the half. WKU led 44-23 at the break.
The Hilltoppers opened the second half with eight unanswered points to push their advantage to 52-23 with 17:10 remaining. Their largest lead came three minutes later when Williams hit two free throws to make the score 54-24 Western.
Johnell Smith paced all players with 16 points for UNO, although 10 came in the final four minutes of the game. Hector Romero - the last player to score 30 points against WKU, and the league's leading scorer entering play - was held to 12 points and eight rebounds. Wilson scored 11 points also.
Western outrebounded the Privateers, 40-30, and forced UNO into 23 turnovers.
"We need to do a better job of competing - in the first half things got away from us and the kids put their heads down," Privateer head coach Monty Towe said. "From one to ten they outplayed us."
WKU returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) against South Alabama in a Sun Belt Conference match-up.
- WKU -
