RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team trailed by as many as 22 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to just one point late in the contest, but Western Kentucky held off the Colonels for a 97-89 win in front of 6,250 fans Saturday night in McBrayer Arena. With the victory, the Hilltoppers (4-1) earned their 10th straight win over the Colonels (2-4) in the Battle of the Bluegrass.

Sophomore Darnell Dialls led EKU in its comeback attempt with a career-best 25 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting from the field. Three other Colonels finished in double figures including senior Matt Witt who netted 19 points and added six assists.

For Western, Anthony Winchester posted a game-high 26 points while going 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) from behind the arc. Courtney Lee chipped in with 19 points and seven assists while Elgrace Wilborn hauled in 10 rebounds.

"This was a tremendous game," EKU head coach Jeff Neubauer said. "Obviously, I'm disappointed with the loss, but we played a really talented team tonight. I think the second half was the best 20 minutes of basketball we played all year, however we still have some defensive issues to work on."

A pair of free throws by Daniel Emerson gave WKU its first double-digit lead of the night, 24-13, with 9:06 left in the opening half. A few minutes later and keyed by a trio of three-pointers, the Hilltoppers ran off 16 unanswered points to take a commanding 42-20 lead. Western Kentucky outrebounded Eastern, 21-9, and forced 12 Colonel turnovers in the first half to earn a 51-32 advantage at the break.

The Colonels responded quickly with a 9-2 spurt at the start of the second stanza to creep within 12 points, 53-41. A Dialls dunk three minutes later ignited another EKU run, this time eight unanswered, which culminated with a Mike Rose three-pointer to make the score, 52-46, in favor of Western with 13:01 remaining. Timely three-point shooting allowed the Hilltoppers to eventually regain a double-digit margin, but Eastern would not go away.

Three-pointers by Witt and fellow senior Jason McLeish made the contest a one-possession game, 81-78, with 5:40 showing on the clock. Following a Lee layup which pushed Western's lead back to five points, Dialls came away with a put back dunk before Witt netted two free throws to get Eastern to within one point, 83-82. Two offensive rebounds on WKU's next possession allowed Benson Callier to record a dunk of his own to put the Hilltoppers back up by three points.

Witt tried to answer with his fourth trifecta of the night to even the score, but came up just short with 2:28 left. Western Kentucky then sealed the game with back-to-back three-pointers by Callier. The Hilltoppers recorded a school-record 16 three-pointers in the win. Meanwhile, the Colonels comeback was spurred on by going a perfect 17-for-17 at the charity stripe in the second half while only committing three turnovers.

Eastern Kentucky opens OVC play in its next game as the Colonels travel to preseason conference favorite Murray State on Thursday, Dec. 8. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be covered by ESPNU. Western Kentucky returns home to face Evansville on Dec. 6 at 9 p.m.