While coach Ken McDonald realizes that a spot on the starting lineup may be useful in picking up chicks at parties, he’s not going to guarantee any Topper a place in the starting five yet.

“I think as a player you like it because it’s kind of a status symbol, a little bit of an ego thing,” McDonald said. “It’s always based on practice and how they’ve done. It’s not who starts the game, it’s who finishes the game.”

McDonald had to fill some critical spots in the lineup after losing three starters last season in Courtney Lee, Ty Rogers and Tyrone Brazelton.

McDonald tweaked the starting five in Western’s (1-1) 62-48 victory against Campbellsville, elevating senior forward Mike Walker to a starting position over sophomore forward D.J. Magley.

Magley struggled as a starter in the 73-64 loss to Houston on Nov. 15, missing his only shot, getting three fouls and two turnovers in six minutes of play.

In the contest against the Tigers (1-3), Magley had a better showing, scoring eight points and grabbing four boards and blocking two shots, while only getting two fouls in 13 minutes.

“Mike was more active in the [Houston] game,” McDonald said. “He put together some good practices and is a little older. I just want D.J. to settle down a little bit. Tonight, he was better. Maybe it was coming off the bench – I don’t know.”

The starting lineup will likely have to make way for the return of junior guard A.J. Slaughter, who had to sit out the first two games because of eligibility issues.

McDonald said that he wasn’t ready to settle on a starting lineup yet, and playing time will be distributed based on performances in practice and games.

Junior forward Jeremy Evans, a starter for 65 of his 68 games as a Topper, said that changes to the starting lineup don’t really affect the team as a whole.

“We all know at some point we have to come in and come out and make substitutions,” Evans said. “I guess it really doesn’t matter who starts, as long we give it our all.”

Western distributed playing time to more players against the Tigers than against the Cougars.

In the Houston contest, four Toppers averaged more than 30 minutes on the court, with three playing 35 minutes or more.

Seeing quite a few minutes in the Campbellsville game was senior forward Matt Maresca. Maresca, who averaged only 3.1 minutes per game last season, scored six points and grabbed four boards in the game.

“Coach told me I would see some time,” Maresca said. “But going into the game, I didn’t know how much I would play. Whatever I can give to help this team win, I am fine with.”

The Toppers will travel to face Murray State at 7 p.m. Saturday at Murray.