CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Western Kentucky’s longest losing streak under Rick Stansbury has come to a close.

After five straight losses to fall below .500 on the season, the Hilltoppers dominated Charlotte 78-59 on Thursday at Halton Arena to end the skid and pick up the team’s first true road win of the season.

“The biggest thing is you never quit believing and quit working. It’s easy to get punched in the nose five times and lay down, but our guys didn’t lay down and we’re not going to lay down,” WKU head coach Stansbury said. “We’ve got good people, good young men. We came out defensively – probably one of the most difficult teams to defend in this league with what all they run – and I thought we were as good as we could be, first half in particular.”

WKU (11-11 overall, 3-6 Conference USA) had fallen in five straight games leading into this week’s road swing – the longest losing streak in Stansbury’s six years at the helm by a game – and were 0-5 entering the contest in road games this season, including a sweep at FAU and FIU as part of the losing streak.

“I think just getting back on our feet,” WKU guard Camron Justice said. “Coach just said in the locker room we’ve been knocked down five straight times and when was we going to get up, and I think we set the tone with the energy all night long. I think that was a testament to us and our spirit and kind of our culture.”

On Thursday, the Hilltoppers started hot and never let up.

WKU led 43-19 by the break, shooting 61% from the field and 56% from 3-point range through the first 20 minutes while seeing five players score at least six points, led by Justice’s 10 points.

The Hilltoppers jumped on the 49ers (11-9, 4-4) from the beginning. Luke Frampton connected on a 3-pointer 14 seconds in and WKU built a 10-point lead by the first media timeout. Jairus Hamilton had seven of his nine points in the game during the stretch in the return to his hometown of Charlotte.

“It’s always special to return home and play in front of your friends and family and stuff like that, so we kind of knew he was jacked up and juiced up a little bit. I actually pulled him aside and just told him to be calm, but I thought he played well,” Justice said.

WKU’s defense handled Charlotte, forcing the 49ers to shoot just 31% from the field and 20% from 3-point range in the first half – the Hilltoppers had struggled defending the 3-point line during their losing streak, including allowing 15-of-26 shooting from deep in their latest loss to Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Jahmir Young – the third-leading scorer in C-USA entering the week’s games – was held to just six points in the half, the most of any 49er through 20 minutes of the game.

With a big lead, WKU weathered each of Charlotte’s second-half runs to cruise to the victory.

The 49ers started the second half on an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 16, but WKU responded with a 7-0 run – all of which came from Josh Anderson. Charlotte added a 14-3 run shortly after to make it a 12-point game with 10:46 to play, but WKU quickly pushed its lead back to 20 on a four-point play from Justice with 8:51 to go and the Hilltoppers’ lead never slipped below 18 from there in the 78-59 blowout.

“A couple games we kind of got up big and the team ended up coming back and we ended up losing, so we just didn’t want to have that feeling again, didn’t want to go through that again,” Anderson said. “Just coming together as a team just to finish the game.”

The majority of the second half came without big man Jamarion Sharp, who picked up his fourth foul with 16:48 remaining. WKU had been planning on working on a smaller rotation heading into the game, and did for the remainder.

“We worked on it in the game tonight and when you have success with something, our guys know this, that court spreads a little bit more now and it helps everybody out,” Stansbury said. “You can drive the ball easier. You’ve got to help off those shooters a little bit now. Opens up the lane a little bit for (Dayvion McKnight). … Jamar – sometimes people backed off of him some and makes it a little more difficult, but Jamar was really good defensively early in that game.”

Justice finished with a game-high 22 points for WKU, while Anderson added 20, McKnight had 14 and Luke Frampton had 11. The Hilltoppers played at Old Dominion on Saturday.

Young finished with 17 points for Charlotte, while Austin Butler had 14 and Robert Braswell had 13.