Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team dropped its Conference USA opener, falling 78-67 to Jacksonville State on Monday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.

The Hilltoppers move to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in CUSA with the loss.

WKU opened the game with the first three points as Grant Newell scored on a layup and Noah Boyde added one at the line. Jax State answered with a 12-1 run, hitting four 3-pointers to grab a 12-4 lead at the first media timeout.

The Gamecocks kept the momentum with six more unanswered points before a 3-pointer from Cam Haffner ended the Hilltoppers’ drought. Another seven points from Jax State stretched the advantage to 25-7 at the under-12 media timeout.

“Obviously we didn’t do a good job at mentally and physically coming out prepared to play tonight,” WKU coach Hank Plona said during his postgame interview on the Hilltopper Radio Network. “And we need to continue to figure out how to do that. Obviously that’s our third road game and these last two that we’ve played I’d say I think we struggled right from the start.”

WKU trimmed the deficit to 12, 32-20, with 2:45 remaining in the half behind 3-pointers from Ryan Myers and Armelo Boone and two-point baskets from Teagan Moore, Newell and Boyde. The Hilltoppers managed just two points the rest of the way, coming on a pair of free throws from Jack Edelen, as Jax State took a 38-22 lead into halftime.

WKU once again cut the margin to 12 in the opening two minutes of the second half as Leeroy Odiahi threw down a dunk and Boone scored in transition. The game went back and forth over the next six minutes as Boone drilled three 3-pointers and a jumper, but Jax State still led 57-41 with 10:36 to play.

Jax State maintained a double-digit cushion over the next several minutes, though WKU twice pulled within nine in the final two minutes. Moore and Haffner each buried a 3-pointer late to make it 76-67 before the Gamecocks closed it out for a 78-67 victory.

Two Hilltoppers finished in double figures. Boone scored 18 points and Moore added 17.

Boone posted 18 points off the bench on 7-of-18 shooting, hitting a career-high four 3-pointers, while adding three steals, two rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes. It marked his ninth double-figure outing of the season and his third straight. Moore registered 17 points on 4-of-10 shooting, going 1-of-1 from beyond the arc and 8-of-12 at the line, to go along with six rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist in 32 minutes.

Haffner chipped in eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3-point distance, in 19 minutes off the bench.

Newell filled the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 32 minutes. Edelen added six points and three assists in 15 minutes of action. Hackman contributed five rebounds, three points, two steals and one block.

The Hilltoppers held edges in points off turnovers (16-12), second-chance points (14-3), bench points (35-22) and rebounds (44-35).

WKU returns home for two games, beginning on Friday against Sam Houston. Tipoff at E.A. Diddle Arena is scheduled for 4 p.m.