SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Costa Rica’s national team didn’t have the size, skill and athleticism to keep up with Western Kentucky on Wednesday night.

So Costa Rica instead slapped, grabbed and pushed Hilltopper players in a game that became far more physical than most exhibitions.

The aggressive play from the Costa Ricans led to two second-quarter skirmishes in what ended up a 99-69 WKU win.

“It was a chippy game and like I told my guys, forget all that,” WKU coach Rick Stansbury said. “Getting chippy back at them doesn’t make you a tough guy. Let your game speak for itself and worry about the scoreboard.”

Marek Nelson took that message to heart. Minutes after a second scuffle and with Costa Rica within nine points at 37-28, the Topper guard/forward caught the ball from a teammate around midcourt.

“I was going to go right at the rim,” the freshman Nelson said. “I thought (a Costa Rican defender) was going to come up and stop me and stop the ball but he never did, so I went up to the rim and finished it.”

“Finished it” doesn’t do justice to Nelson’s second-quarter dunk. The 6-foot-6 freshman took the ball right down the middle of the lane, leaped and threw down a violent tomahawk dunk right in the face of a Costa Rican defender.

It would’ve been considered a highlight-reel dunk if there were cameras in BN Arena – unfortunately, there weren’t.

“He about had his head up in that rim,” Stansbury said.

Just as emphatic as the dunk was the silent stare down Nelson gave the now-posterized Costa Rican.

“Didn’t say anything, I just looked at him,” Nelson said.

Costa Rica never got to within single-digits again after Nelson’s slam. WKU pushed its lead to 47-31 at halftime, then led by as many 31 points late in the second quarter.

The 99-69 win made the Hilltoppers 2-0 so far on their Costa Rican tour. Nelson liked the way his team responded when the home team tried to bait WKU players into after-the-whistle business.

“It’s a mentality we have on our team,” the Plano, Texas, native Nelson said. “It’s a dog mentality that a couple of our guys have. As soon as everyone gets like that on our team, the better.”

Nelson was scoreless Tuesday night in the Hilltoppers’ first game of their preseason trip. He finished Wednesday with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was one of WKU’s most aggressive offensive players all evening.

“Marek came off the bench and brought great energy,” Stansbury said. “He’s a guy that athletically, he’s really athletic and plays hard. His biggest thing is to let the game slow down some, and it will the more we play.”

Lamonte Bearden, one night after scoring 23 points, led the team in scoring again Wednesday with 21. Fellow guard Jordan Brangers added 17 points, hitting three early 3-pointers.

Jake Ohmer joined Nelson in scoring 12 points, with fellow freshman guard Taveion Hollingsworth adding 11. Guard/forward Jared Savage, an Austin Peay transfer, played as an undersized center most of the night and notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hilltoppers grabbed a whopping 20 steals, six of which came from walk-on guard Tyler Miller.

Guard Darius Thompson put down another balanced stat line, finishing with seven points, seven rebounds and nine assists against just one turnover.

“We came out pushing the ball,” Ohmer said. “We knew we could outrun them. Everybody was getting involved and we played well as a team today.”

Coleby sits out

WKU didn’t have Dwight Coleby on the court Wednesday night. The graduate student forward went through warmups at BN Arena but didn’t play in the game.

Coleby sprained his heel Tuesday night in the first game of the Toppers’ Costa Rican tour, Stansbury said.

The absences of Coleby and Moustapha Diagne – who’s still trying to get cleared by the NCAA – left Justin Johnson as WKU’s only true post player Wednesday. The senior Johnson nearly secured a double-double, finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Johnson played 20 minutes Wednesday after having to go for 34 the night before. He rejoined the basketball program Sunday after working out with the football team all offseason.

“Justin was so much better last night than he was tonight,” Stansbury said. “Does Justin have any juice left tomorrow night? I don’t know.”

Foul stripe struggles

The Hilltoppers went 12-of-24 from the free-throw line Wednesday night, a 50-percent clip. That came one night after WKU shot just 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from the foul stripe.

Bearden (5-of-10), Johnson (1-of-5) and Nelson (2-of-5) all shot 50 percent or worse from the line against Costa Rica.

The Tops shot 67.1 percent from the free-throw line in the 2016-17 season, while their opponents hit 70.7 percent of their attempts.

Up Next

Western Kentucky will play the final game of its three-game preseason trip Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. CDT. The Hilltoppers will face Laurentian University, a Canadian college team they beat 104-98 on Tuesday.

Western Kentucky – 27 20 25 27 – 99

Costa Rica – 16 15 16 22 – 69

WKU scorers – Bearden 21, Brangers 17, Nelson 12, Ohmer 12, Hollingsworth 11, Savage 10, Johnson 9, Thompson 7.

WKU stat leaders – Rebounds: Johnson and Savage, 10. Assists: Thompson, 9. Steals: Miller, 6. Blocks: Hollingsworth, Nelson and Savage, 1.{&end}