Western Kentucky guard Courtney Lee is the Hilltoppers’ preseason All-American, but Murray State coach Billy Kennedy was worried more about point guard Tyrone Brazelton.

Brazelton proved Kennedy’s fears were legitimate in the Hilltoppers’ 87-63 win Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Brazelton went 7-of-8 from the field for 17 points and added four assists as the Hilltoppers pounded the Racers in the teams’ first meeting since 2004.

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“You hate to admit it, but I thought we were outclassed and outphysicaled,” Kennedy said.

Much of that was because of Brazelton.

“It helps when you have a guard like Tyrone Brazelton play as well as he did,” Kennedy said. “He was the one I was most concerned about. Courtney Lee is a tremendous player, but when (Brazelton) is playing and shooting the ball that well, he can create offense for everybody.”

Lee hurt the Racers (1-1) too, finishing with a game-high 18 points and three steals, one of four Hilltoppers (3-0) who scored in double figures.

And Western continued its trend of forcing turnovers.

WKU forced 27 turnovers Saturday after forcing 29 against Kentucky Wesleyan on Tuesday.

“It’s definitely gone up a couple of notches,” Lee said. “We bought into defense this summer and have come out focused. Get on the same page, play aggressive and be active the whole game. It’s working for us.”

The Hilltoppers led 48-40 with 16:24 remaining after the Racers’ Tyler Holloway hit a 3-pointer. Then the Hilltoppers took over with a 13-2 run.

WKU forced four turnovers during the five-minute stretch.

“Our defense is what keyed our runs and helped us stretch our lead,” WKU coach Darrin Horn said. “I don’t know if the number (of turnovers) will stay that high – I hope it can – but the energy and activity is the result of having depth and getting your guys to play at that level.”

Unlike against Kentucky Wesleyan, when the Hilltoppers played a sluggish first half before pulling away with an 88-67 win, WKU hit Murray State with a 17-7 run to start the game, led by Brazelton’s consecutive 3-pointers.

Brazelton was 5-for-5 from the floor for 13 first-half points. He was 10-of-14, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, against Kentucky Wesleyan.

“I feel comfortable,” Brazelton said. “I stay in the gym and get extra shots for at least an hour after practice. I’m just getting in the flow.”

The Racers eventually cut the deficit to 26-23 on Ray George’s jumper, but the Hilltoppers scored the final seven points of the half for a 43-33 halftime lead.

Murray State had 15 first-half turnovers. Starting point guard Kevin Thomas played only two minutes in the half after picking up two early fouls.

“It definitely hurt us,” Kennedy said. “We’re not good enough to overcome that against a team like Western Kentucky.”

Kennedy also picked up a technical foul as the first half expired, when Lee forced a traveling call on George as he attempted to shoot a 3-pointer.

“It was good to see we bounced back before the end of the half to keep the lead in that 9- and 10-point range,” Horn said. “It was obvious from the time that when George got the ball, he wasn’t going to pass it. Courtney knew it was one-on-one and takes great pride in that. He’s done that before.”

Kennedy thought a foul should have been called, but was surprised by the technical.

“I still don’t realize why I got it,” Kennedy said. “I raised my hands up and flung them down as I was walking off for halftime.”

Danero Thomas led Murray State with 17 points and five rebounds, but had six turnovers.

“Probably the most pleasing thing for us is that coming in the game, we were concerned about it being a battle of tempo,” Horn said. “I thought we did a good job of playing at the tempo we wanted to by the number of turnovers we forced and the number of points we put up.”