BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Rod Lawrence dropped a career-high 29 points and Tiger hoops gave Western Kentucky University all it wanted in an exhibition on Tuesday night falling, 87-79.

"We battled tonight," said coach Brent Vernon. "It was a total 360 (turnaround) on how we played on Saturday. I'd like to thank Coach Stansbury for allowing us to come and play a team like this because it'll be the best team we play all year and it's great experience. But we battled tonight and took it to them for half of the game. WKU made some tough shots late and that is was propelled them to the win."

Lawrence, who was playing for the first time since fracturing his foot last October, finished hitting 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point land to lead all scorers. He also tied the CU team-high with seven rebounds.

"This is what we expect from Rod because he's a senior and love these challenges," said Vernon. "Early on he forced a few shots but we knew that would happen because he has been wanting to play so bad. Bu the did a great job and made good decisions late."
 
Campbellsville held WKU in check for the most part, as four of the five starters scored in double figures, but the bench, besides Justin Johnson, was a no show. Johnson dropped 22 points off the bench to lead the Hilltoppers.

The Tigers also took advantage of 12 WKU turnovers to turn them into 20 points.

"That's a big stat," said Vernon. "We want to be a team that plays very fast but there are times we can do that and times we can't. As many points as we scored, we would get a turnover but couldn't capitalize on certain occasions. We are getting close but we still have a long way to go."

In the first half, the Hilltoppers jumped out to a 19-11 lead but Campbellsville would step its defense up midway through. WKU would go scoreless for almost four minutes and CU would heat up from deep.

Elliott Young started the rally with consecutive 3-pointers, Andre Applewhite would add a 3 of his own and Jalen Coats made a driving layup to tie the game at 19-all – but it was the final tie of the contest.

WKU answered quickly with a 6-0 run and push its lead back to six, 25-19, and the Tigers would hit a cold spurt themselves. CU went five-plus minutes without a field goal but this time it was the Tigers defense that would hold the Hilltoppers in check only getting down by nine with 5:31 left, 29-20.

Lawrence banged the first of his four 3s and Byron Scott scored a layup to cut the WKU lead to four, 29-25, and CU would eventually cut the lead to three just two minutes later, 32-29.

The Tigers were able to work the lead to as little as two points, 34-32, but WKU would go on a 9-2 run the rest of the half to take a 43-34 halftime lead.

Even though CU never saw the two-point deficit like it did in the first half, the Tigers gave coach Rick Stansbury and WKU all it wanted in the second half.
 
With 9:56 left, Antonio Chapman was able to cut the WKU lead to three points with a triple – it was the first of four moments in the final 10 minutes the Tigers were able to cut the lead to three.

Erik Kinney, also playing in his first game as a Tiger after an injury last season, cut WKU's lead to three points for the final time with a pair of free throws with 5:31 left, 67-64.

Kinney scored 10 points in his CU debut and tied Lawrence and Shawn Johnson with the team-high seven rebounds.

"Erik will be just fine," said Vernon. "Having Erik and Rod back tonight really shored up our defense, rebounding and gives up two more weapons on the offensive end of the floor. Erik will be a hard matchup for a lot of teams in our conference. Tonight was our best rebounding effort because we have struggled with the boards to start the season."

With 1:55 left, the Hilltoppers went on an 11-4 run to take a 78-68 lead but Campbellsville threw one final haymaker late. Lawrence drilled three of his four 3s in the final 1:55 and ended up cutting WKU's lead to six points, 83-77, but it was Willie Carmichael that put the game away.

Carmichael scored 13 points but nine of those came from the free throw line (9-of-10). He stepped to the line with WKU up six points, 83-77, and nailed four-straight to ice the Tigers in the final 30 seconds.

WKU finished hitting 81 percent from the FT line (26-of-32), while CU finished hitting just 56 percent (13-of-23).

Campbellsville now welcomes Wilmington College to Powell Athletic Center on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.