Hilltoppers Claim 44th 20-Win Season with 85-66 Victory at Rice

Saturday, February 17

Houston, Texas

7 p.m.

Western Kentucky University

-207, 122 CUSA

Rice

-522, 212 CUSA

WKU

Rice

Hilltoppers Claim 44th 20-Win Season with 85-66 Victory at Rice

2/17/2018 9:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Justin Johnson Video Interview Dwight Coleby Video Interview Rick Stansbury Video Interview

HOUSTON, Texas — WKU Hilltopper Basketball used a fast start Saturday to record the 44th 20-win season in program history with an 85-66 road victory over Rice.

The Hilltoppers (20-7, 12-2 Conference USA) scored the first 10 points of the game and led by as much as 19 before the break. They shot 55.9 percent from the floor and made 10 of 18 3-pointers on their way to their best conference start through 14 games since 2007-08.

WKU is ranked seventh in NCAA history in 20-win seasons. Only Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, UCLA and Kansas have more.

It also marks the 11th 20-win season in Rick Stansbury's 16 seasons as a head coach.

Senior guard Darius Thompson flirted with a triple-double with 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and senior forward Justin Johnson added 16 points and 13 rebounds to the rout.

Senior forward Dwight Coleby and freshman guard Josh Anderson each scored 12 points, and redshirt junior guard Lamonte Bearden finished with 11 points. Freshman guard Jake Ohmer scored nine points with three 3-pointers.

Rice (5-22, 2-12) cut into the Hilltoppers' 48-31 halftime lead early in the second half, but WKU went on a 17-2 run to seize control.

Freshman forward Marek Nelson's 3-pointer with 3:49 to go gave the Tops their largest lead of the day at 82-54.

WKU tallied 19 assists against just eight turnovers and outrebounded Rice 37-27. The Hilltoppers outscored the Owls 44-22 in the paint.

Malik Osborne paced Rice with 15 points.

The Hilltoppers head back to Bowling Green for their final two home games of the regular season, starting with Charlotte at 7 p.m. CT Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena.