BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A season-best 6,407 packed E.A. Diddle Arena Saturday night, the ninth-largest home crowd in the last five seasons, and the Hilltopper faithful saw WKU shoot a season-high 54.7 percent from the field and beat division rival South Alabama, 75-66. The Hilltoppers also outrebounded the Jaguars, who entered the game as the conference's best rebounding team, by three. The win is WKU's third in the last four games and moves its record to 8-15 overall and 4-6 in conference play. South Alabama drops to 12-10 and 4-7 with the defeat.

Jamal Crook was outstanding in all facets for WKU Saturday night, scoring a career-high 24 points, dishing out six assists and swiping two steals. The junior missed his first shot of the game 1:09 into the contest and proceeded to go 9-for-9 the rest of the way. Teeng Akol had 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks, and George Fant added 12 and eight. The trio was a combined 20-for-25 shooting in the contest. T.J. Price was also in double figures with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and three three-pointers. South Alabama was paced by 20 points and eight rebounds by Augustine Rubit, the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year.

Crook has now scored 10 or more points in 10 of the last 14 games after entering the season with just one double-digit scoring outing in his previous two seasons combined. The Hilltoppers are 15-6 in the last two years when he has at least four assists in a game, and he is averaging 5.5 assists in the last six games, which is up from 2.2 in the five prior to that.

WKU has defeated South Alabama in seven of the last eight meetings.

WKU scored the first five points of the game, as Price hit a layup and then nailed a three-pointer, before South Alabama scored the next six to take an early lead. The Jaguars led 12-10 at the first media timeout after Rubit converted an and-one, but the Hilltoppers tied it at 13 after Fant did the same thing on the other end a couple of possessions later.

Kahlil McDonald hit a three-pointer from the top of the key after an offensive rebound by Price to give WKU a 16-13 lead and start a stretch of WKU scoring 12 of the game's next 15 points to lead by six at 22-16 at the under-8:00 media timeout. South Alabama clawed back and took a four-point lead after Rubit followed a Freddie Goldstein triple with a layup, and Crook and O'Karo Akamune brought the game within a point with a jumper and a free throw, respectively. Trailing 35-31, the Hilltoppers evened the score at halftime on an Akol layup and a Crook jumper at the buzzer.

Akol led WKU with 10 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Crook had eight and four assists. Goldstein and Antoine Lundy led the Jaguars with 11 points apiece, and Trey Anderson dished out five assists for South Alabama. The Hilltoppers shot 53.6 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes (15-for-28), and South Alabama was at 48.0 percent (12-for-25).

Once again the Hilltoppers rattled off five-straight points to start the second half, opening up a 40-35 lead after Crook nailed a runner in the lane. South Alabama was within one at 42-41 a couple of minutes later, but WKU scored eight-in-a-row around the under-16:00 media timeout to break the game open. Fant started it off with a put-back dunk, Crook followed with a three-point play and Price buried a three to give the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the night at that point and bring the crowd to its feet.

South Alabama cut it to four points at 54-50 at one point, but WKU went on a 13-4 run to take a 67-54 lead and never look back en route to the nine-point victory.

WKU scored 38 points in the paint on the night, and 15 in the game came via the fast break. The Hilltoppers saw 21 points from their bench.

With his first two points of the game, Derrick Gordon now claims the seventh-highest-scoring freshman season in WKU history, passing Mike Wilson (1988-89).

WKU packs the bus once again for another two-game road trip next week starting Thursday night at east division-leading Middle Tennessee. Tip-off between the Hilltoppers and the Blue Raiders is set for 7:00 PM, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. The contest will also be available on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network with Randy Lee and Hal Schmitt on the call. WKUSports.com offers audio streaming and live stats for the game.