Brazelton finished with a career-best 21 points while handing out six assists with only one turnover, hitting 7-of-13 from the field including all four three-point attempts. Ty Rogers chipped in with 19 points — all but three came in the second half — and Orlando Mendez-Valdez collected 14 points and four assists.
Mike Walker added six points and eight rebounds as well in only 15 minutes to help the Hilltoppers, who have won 16 of the last 17 meetings with FIU, improve to 13-5 and 5-1 in the Sun Belt.
The Golden Panthers fell to 6-10, 1-5 in the SBC, despite getting 20 points and seven rebounds from Alex Galindo. Chris Fuller collected 18 points and Johwen Villegas had 14.
The Toppers shot 51.7 percent from the floor while making 60 percent (9-of-15) of their attempts from beyond the three-point arc, and they committed only three turnovers in the second half to finish with 13 on the night.
WKU did not have the services of Courtney Lee or Matt Maresca due to injury.
“We went into a game on the road tonight coming off a difficult loss, and started two freshmen, a sophomore, a first-year transfer and only one junior whose been in our program for three years,” said Hilltopper head coach Darrin Horn. “We faced adversity in a lot of different ways, and just had many guys step up and do the things we needed to do to win the game. For those reasons, this was a big win for us.
“I don’t think it was so important that it was without Courtney, our players aren’t nearly as concerned about that as the media and the fans, as much as it was because of how we did it with different guys stepping up. Our team is out to play well and win games, and we did that tonight.”
WKU went without a field goal in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the second half, but once Brazelton hit a three from the top of the key it ignited a 9-1 spurt that helped break the game open. Mendez-Valdez also hit a shot, Brazelton added another basket and Rogers connected on a pair of free throws to give the Toppers a 49-38 edge with just over 15 minutes remaining.
The Golden Panthers were down six, 55-49, when Villegas made a trey with 12-and-a-half minutes to go, but the Hilltoppers responded with a 12-2 run over a two-minute stretch to put the game away. Rogers and Mendez-Valdez each had five points during the spurt that left WKU with a 67-51 advantage and 9:21 to go.
Any hopes of a Golden Panther come back faded as they shot 43 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes, and they converted only 12-of-26 free-throw attempts for the contest.
FIU was guilty of committing 18 turnovers as well, but did outrebound WKU 36-30.
The Hilltoppers got off to a fast start behind Brazelton, as he scored seven of the team’s first nine points in the opening two-and-a-half minutes on a three-pointer and two driving layups. A Butch Jointer jumper in the lane extended the WKU advantage to 13-5 with 15:45 remaining, while the lead would still stand at seven when he collected another basket with just under 12 minutes to go.
FIU used a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the contest, 22-21, as Fuller started the spurt with a three-pointer from the corner at 9:54 and finished it with a jumper with 8:16 left. But, that would be the Golden Panthers’ only advantage as Daniel Emerson answered with a layup one minute later.
Emerson would hit all three of his attempts in the first half to go to the locker room with six points, finishing with eight total.
Villegas’ basket at 2:44 cut the FIU deficit to two, 30-28, before Mendez-Valdez help stretch the lead to six points in the final minute with a trey and spinning jumper in the lane that made the score 38-32. Fuller hit his third three of the opening 20 minutes at the buzzer though, cutting the WKU edge in half at the break.
The Hilltoppers return to action Saturday with a 7 p.m. (CST) contest against Louisiana-Lafayette at E.A. Diddle Arena.
