BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -Behind a career-high 28 points from Teagan Moore, WKU erased a double-digit deficit to down Sam Houston 102-91 in Friday\u2019s CUSA home opener. After trailing 49-42 at the break, they would close the gap on a Moore half-court buzzer-beater. the Hilltoppers (8-5, 1-1 CUSA) erupted for 60 second-half points.<\/p>\n
WKU dominated the glass, parlaying 49 rebounds into 33 second-chance points. Trailing by nine early in the second frame, the Tops ignited a 21-5 run to seize control. Armelo Boone anchored the effort with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double, while Moore\u2019s career night kept the Sam Houston Bearkats (8-5, 0-2 CUSA) at bay.<\/p>\n
How It Happened<\/b><\/p>\n
The Bearkats jumped out to a 7-0 lead and controlled the first 25 minutes, at one point leading 42-28. Whenever WKU threatened, Sam Houston answered, but a late first-half surge from Ryan Myers, who scored 11 of his 18 points in the first kept the Hilltoppers within reach. WKU went into the locker room down 49-42, thanks to a remarkable half-court heave from Moore that beat the buzzer.<\/p>\n
Momentum carried into the second half. After falling behind early, WKU sparked a 21-5 run to take their first lead at 69-62, with Moore scoring nine points and Armelo Boone and Noah Boyde controlling the paint. In the closing minutes, Sam Houston briefly reclaimed a 70-69 lead, but WKU answered with a clinical 23-9 run, fueled by timely triples from Myers and Grant Newell (12 points) and Moore\u2019s efficiency at the rim, putting the game away.<\/p>\n
Turning Point: The Second Half Surge<\/b><\/p>\n
The 21-5 run early in the second half, sparked by Moore and Myers, allowed WKU to take control and carry the momentum through the final minutes<\/p>\n
WKU head coach Hank Plona acknowledged that while the performance wasn\u2019t always pretty, the resilience shown by his squad was the difference-maker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we showed a lot of toughness and grit,\u201d Plona said. \u201cOnce we were forced to, had our backs against the wall, I thought we responded very, very well. [Sam Houston] has been about the best team in Conference USA, and it\u2019s good that our guys proved to themselves they can battle and not only battle but come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
WKU wraps up its two-game homestand this Sunday, Jan. 4, as Louisiana Tech visits E.A. Diddle Arena. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m., with live coverage streaming on ESPN+.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WBKO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -Behind a career-high 28 points from Teagan Moore, WKU erased a double-digit deficit to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":489063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-489062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115830325441206875","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}