Alex Slitz/Daily NewsWestern Kentucky freshman guard Brandon Peters goes up for a layup Saturday against Southern Illinois’ Kendal Brown-Surles at E.A. Diddle Arena. Click here for more photos.

Entering Saturday’s game, Western Kentucky’s point guard situation couldn’t have been murkier.

It’s still not settled, but true freshman guard Brandon “Snap” Peters did his best to save the day for at least one game.

Peters, who has played at the two-guard spot for most of the season, came off the bench and spent most of his 19 minutes at the point guard spot. He finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal and was the spark plug in WKU’s 53-46 win over Southern Illinois.

“It’s just a confidence thing,” Peters said. “If you’ve got confidence, you can do anything, and I had that today.”

Click here for more photos.

After WKU indefinitely suspended junior point guard Ken Brown on Friday and then dismissed him from the program after Brown admitted to a violation of a team academic policy on Saturday, the Hilltoppers entered the game with only two true point guards on their roster – sophomore Jamal Crook and freshman walk-on Mike Gabbard.

Crook and Gabbard played a combined 19 minutes Saturday, but the star was Peters.

“He put himself out there and it was great to see,” WKU coach Ken McDonald said. “He had a really good first few weeks and then hit the freshman lull, but he’s been better and he answered the bell big-time for us tonight.

“If there’s a game ball going to anyone, I think it goes to Snap.”

McDonald likes the possibility of Peters turning into a point guard, he said, not just because of a necessity, but because he excelled in a difficult situation.

“We had to look at it and it worked out,” McDonald said. “I think we have a lot of guys that can score the basketball. … But you have to have someone to get you into an offense and distribute, and that’s all we asked him to do tonight. And he did a wonderful job.”

Brown dismissed

After McDonald announced Friday that Brown had been indefinitely suspended for a violation of team rules, the university announced after Saturday’s game that the now former junior point guard has been dismissed from the program.

“Men’s Basketball student-athlete Ken Brown has admitted to a violation of a team academic policy and has been dismissed from the program,” the athletic department said in a statement. “WKU Athletics prides itself on the highest academic standards, and this type of conduct is simply not acceptable.”

McDonald wouldn’t get into any specifics as to what the violation included, but did say that the team has no choice but to move on from the incident.

“It’s pretty much out there, and it really is unfortunate,” McDonald said. “We have to move forward and continue to understand what every opportunity each student-athlete has here at WKU.

“We have to continue to think about that in those terms and we hope good things for him. That’s about it.”

Brown, a junior college transfer this season from Cerritos (Calif.) College, appeared in nine games this season and made six starts. He averaged 6.7 points and a team-best 2.9 assists per game. He also averaged 3.4 turnovers per contest.

Tip-ins: Steffphon Pettigrew entered the game without a 3-pointer in the team’s previous four games. He was 0 of 13 from downtown during that stretch. … With nine points Saturday, Sergio Kerusch moved into 25th place with 1,216 during his three-year career at WKU.

— Read WKU beat writer Nick Baumgardner’s Hilltopper blog at bgdnwkublog.wordpress.com.