The Indians — who improved to 10-2 and 2-0 in the SBC — snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Hilltoppers (5-7, 0-1 SBC). WKU dropped its league opener for the second straight season.
Antonio Rambo’s three-pointer with 1:07 to go in the game proved to give ASU the lead for good, 75-74, as the Indians sealed the victory with four free throws from J.J. Montgomery.
Mike Wells — who ended the game with a career-best 26 points to become the 39th player in school history with 1,000 in his career — sank a pair of free throws with nine seconds to go to pull Western within one, but Antonio Haynes’ last second layup that could have tied the game was no good.
Montgomery added 20 points and Tevoris Thompson 16 off the bench for the Indians, who shot 48.9 percent from the floor. ASU was 25-of-37 at the free-throw line.
Nigel Dixon added 20 points and a game-best 13 rebounds for the Toppers, and Anthony Winchester chipped in with 11. Western connected on half of its 20 three-point field goal attempts, while the Hilltoppers had a 41-29 edge on the boards.
The Hilltoppers posted the first 10 points in the contest, with Dixon scoring six including the final two at 17:25. ASU responded, though, with 10 unanswered points of their own, knotting the score at 10-10 when Thompson hit a three-pointer with 14:52 left in the half.
After a Josh Higgins putback ended the Indian run, Wells collected the Toppers’ next eight points, with a pair of free throws at 10:10 giving WKU a 21-17 advantage. Western still led 25-24 with 7:11 to go when Dixon shattered the backboard with a dunk, causing a 35-minute delay.
Thompson hit both technical free throws when play resumed, but the Indians would go with only one field goal from that point until Montgomery’s steal and layup with three seconds remaining in the half. ASU hit six free throws during that stretch, while Winchester hit a running jumper to at 0:53 and Dixon added a dunk with 10 seconds remaining to help the Toppers take a lead into the locker room.
WKU concludes a two-game Sun Belt Conference opening road trip Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) at South Alabama.
