Bassey carries Western Kentucky past Middle Tennessee 82-67

Updated Jan. 23, 2021 7:38 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Charles Bassey scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Western Kentucky defeated Middle Tennessee 82-67 on Saturday.

Taveion Hollingsworth and Carson Williams added 15 points each for the Hilltoppers. Williams also had eight rebounds. Luke Frampton had 14 points for Western Kentucky (12-4, 5-2 Conference USA) and Jordan Rawls scored 10.

Western Kentucky shot 51% from the floor (24 of 47) including 10 of 20 from distance. The Hilltoppers shot 61% in the second half, when they broke the game open.

Dontrell Shuler had 18 points for the Blue Raiders (3-8, 1-4). Eli Lawrence added 14 points and six rebounds. Jordan Davis had 12 points.

WKU announced shortly before the game that coach Rick Stansbury was experiencing a fever and would not coach the weekend series at Middle Tennessee. Phil Cunningham took over for Stansbury.

The teams meet again Sunday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com