Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team got off to a strong start in this year’s multi-team event (MTE) on Sunday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Hilltoppers, part of the four-team field for Kentucky’s BBN Invitational, topped fellow MTE participant Lipscomb 66-61 to successfully complete the first leg of the three-game slate with the next coming at home Wednesday against Jackson State before wrapping up play on Nov. 26 against the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

WKU (2-2) had to grind through a defensive-focused game to create enough offense for some late separation to earn the program’s second straight win.

“Happy to get a win. That’s a very good Lipscomb team that’s going to win 20-something games and is picked to win their league,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “I would think it was an entertaining game of basketball. Not sure it was on offense the prettiest or (most) well-played or well-executed game of basketball. I do think that very good teams find ways to win ugly games.”

On a day neither team was particularly good at making shots, the Tops leaned into playing tough defense and working into the lane to create scoring opportunities.

Down 31-30 at halftime, the Tops trailed by four midway through the second half when they pieced together a 9-2 run to push ahead. Senior guard Enoch Kalambay (11 points) played a pivotal role in that burst of offense, dishing off a no-look pass for an assist to senior forward Babacar Faye (17 points, nine rebounds) for a basket to start the rally, then scoring the go-ahead basket on a jumper plus a free throw, then another free throw. By the time the surge was done on another Faye jumper, the Tops led 55-48 with 5:14 to play.

“Enoch did a great job on the high post when they went zone,” Plona said. “They tried to slow us down. When we had Don (McHenry) off the floor, it seemed like they were going zone every time so Enoch did a really good job on the high post of making passes and driving the ball to the basket. That look-away pass to Baba I thought was a big play in the game.”

Lipscomb clawed back to within two at 60-58 on a Jacob Ognacevic 3-pointer with 1:47 to play, but Kalambay answered on the other end with a jumper.

The Bisons were still within three after Miles White hit the front end of a one-plus-one free-throw opportunity, but WKU’s Tyrone Marshall Jr. grabbed the rebound on the second missed attempt and whipped the ball downcourt to McHenry.

The Tops’ high-scoring senior guard took it to the rim for a layup to stretch the lead to five with 27 seconds left.

“We had an advantage, so yeah I was taking that,” said McHenry, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “Not playing it safe, just trying to put the game away for sure.”

Lipscomb again cut the margin to three at 64-61 and tried a full-court press; the Tops broke it and forced a foul on Faye, who knocked down both free throws to set the final score.

“I thought our guys, especially after the first 10 minutes or so, really showed how tough they are and showed the grit that we have,” Plona said. “The last 30 minutes of the game, I thought we defended and rebounded certainly as well as this team has.”

The Tops endured a rough stretch in the first half as both teams struggled to make shots – each went 11-of-30 from the field and 3-of-15 from 3-point range in the first half. The Bisons were getting the better of it through the first 12 minutes, with Joe Anderson’s jumper staking them to a 25-14 lead with 8:47 left in the half.

WKU answered with with a 12-0 run capped by back-to-back 3s from freshman guard Julius Thedford and Kalambay to lead by a point with three minutes left in the half. Lipscomb regrouped to take a 31-30 lead into halftime, but the Tops had found the right mindset.

“We went into the locker room and I could see it in the guys’ eyes that they believed that OK, if we make multiple efforts and we continue to lock in even if things aren’t going in our direction – we know that wasn’t a great half – but man if we can play the way we played the last five or six minutes for 20 minutes,” Plona said. “… I mean, there was confidence and belief in the group at halftime.”

More effectively attacking the Bisons’ stubborn zone looks meant looking for gaps in the paint, and that’s where Kalambay shined Sunday.

“They kind of goad you into out-of-rhythm, uncomfortable shots – not, not allowing you to shoot, but just kind of sticking together,” Plona said. “I think they’re probably not the quickest team in the world, so they really try to pack it in and use team defense to protect the rim and they do a good job of that. I knew we would be tempted to shoot a lot of jump shots early. We tried not to do that, but we did. And then once me missed those, I thought it riled us a little bit. So once we bought into attacking the rim and not just taking the first half-decent look we got, but being patient.”

Kalambay finished with a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, plus dished out a team-high three assists.

“We moved the ball around, we shifted the defense left and right,” Kalambay said. “And once you get from the middle as long as it’s going to be wide open, you just make your own decision. So I think I was just being confident, making sure that not only am I playing for myself – I’m playing for my teammate.”

The Tops’ offensive adjustments worked, while the defensive strategy of stopping Bisons leading scorers Ognacevic and Will Pruitt – they were a combined 5-of-22 from the field for 16 points – allowed the Tops to lock down the win – the first against Lipscomb in 88 years, with the last WKU victory in the rarely-played matchup coming in 1936. The Tops inched ahead 2-1 in the all-time series.

WKU held Lipscomb to a frigid 5-of-31 (16.1%) shooting day on 3-pointers and 34.8% shooting overall.

“It was definitely a focus, for sure,” McHenry said of defending the 3-point line. “We know they’ve got some guys that shoot it at a high clip, so some of their guys that’s their go-to, that’s their bread-and-butter (is) catch-and-shoot 3s. We already know its not the off-the-dribble ones, it’s the catch-and-shoot ones so being in the gap and deny you and being up and pressure and to make it a little bit uncomfortable for sure, we emphasized that as a key to success.”

WKU is back in action Wednesday against Jackson State in a 7 p.m. matchup at Diddle Arena.