BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Nine players suited up for the Tigers' season-opening exhibition Monday night, as Campbellsville University tipped off the 2012-2013 season in an 84-46 loss at Western Kentucky University in E.A. Diddle Arena.

 

"There's a difference of levels. You've got a team here in Western Kentucky that I think if they're not the best coached team in the country, they're one of them," said Keith Adkins, CU head coach. "I've known Ray Harper for a long time … Watching them as he took over last year, I think he's one of the premier coaches in the country. I think this guy can win at any level of basketball."

It was the fourth head coaching matchup between Adkins in Harper in the past 13 years, including a scrimmage at Kentucky Wesleyan and then two NAIA games in 2007-08 when Harper was at Oklahoma City University.

Campbellsville challenged the defending Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions early, keeping within two possessions for most of the first eight minutes.

Malik Thomas put the Tigers on the board first to even the score, 2-2, early. Bryton Taylor had the first 3-pointer of the season for CU, following a successful free throw attempt to keep CU within a possession, 9-6, however that's when Western Kentucky began to pull away.

The Hilltoppers scored eight unanswered points over the next two minutes. WKU closed the final 10 minutes of the first half on a 28-7 run to pull ahead by 30 at the break, 49-19.

The Tigers regrouped to start the second half, outscoring the Hilltoppers, 21-15, in the first 12 minutes to drop the margin to 24 points, 64-40.

WKU got hot again, streaking to 12 straight points to take its largest lead of the night, 76-40. Dickerson pushed the lead to 82-44 with 1:34 remaining.

Adkins was not disappointed with the loss, but was not pleased of what he considered a lack of competitiveness in spots.

"I want to make sure that we don't step over the line of not helping them to where they want to get. This is a stepping stone to them. They need this to be a competitive game, because they have regular season games coming up," Adkins said. "It's not all guaranteed check and exposure. There's a level of play we've got to bring into this to make sure we continue to get these guaranteed games. For half the game tonight, I thought we were at that level and the other half we weren't. That's what I challenged our guys with. I can handle the score. I can handle the loss. I can't handle not competing at times."

All nine Tiger players saw at least eight minutes of action Monday, including four players making their first appearance in a CU uniform. Senior guard Addison Smith, a transfer from Flagler University, led CU with 11 points and also had seven rebounds in 32 minutes. Redshirt junior Filip Stanic had seven points off the bench, while Brandon Britt had three points and two blocks and Dino Muslic (Mountain State University) had two points.

"If you're on our team right now, you're going to have to contribute," Adkins said. "We've been telling them for weeks and weeks now what the problems are and what we're good at. Now we have video proof and evidence to show them what the mistakes are and to show them what we do good and what we need to do more of.

"This is going to be a good learning experience for us. We have guys who are going to have to step up from here on out, because we're short-handed until the Christmas break."

The leading returner for Campbellsville was 6-foot-8 forward Jordan Myers, who had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists. Thomas led all players with nine boards.

WKU was led in scoring by George Fant's 20 points, followed by 16 from Jamal Cook, 14 from T.J. Price and 11 from Kene Anyigbo.

Campbellsville will open the regular season Monday, Nov. 5 at Brescia University for an 8 p.m. tipoff.

STATS

NOTES
- WKU leads the series all-time, 6-0
- First meeting was Dec. 12, 1942 in Campbellsville's SAC Gym.
- Keith Adkins is 1-1 vs. Ray Harper in head-to-head coaching battles.
- Campbellsville and Western Kentucky have played in exhibition every other year since 2008.
- WKU's win margin in the series entering the game was 36.2 points per game.
- Attendance for the game was 3,671.

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