NASHVILLE- After Western’s 68-54 upset win against Louisville, coach Ken McDonald didn’t want to leave the interview room when a call was put out for one more question.

“You do that at Murray State when we lost by 40,” McDonald told the sports information director. “When we win a game we stay in here a while.”

The Toppers will want to hold on to this victory for some time. The Toppers were up by as much as 15 points in the last minute of the game, a turnaround from the Murray blowout loss.

“I think it meant a lot to everybody in the locker room,” junior guard A.J. Slaughter said. “Everybody was excited and jumping around like we had just won the NCAA tournament game.”

Western had a slim lead the majority of the first half, before U of L fought back and the two teams swapped leads for the last couple of minutes before Slaughter tied it at 28 with a last second three-pointer.

Western came out strong in the second half, gaining the quick lead and never relinquishing it.

Slaughter led had a career game with 25 points while also grabbing nine rebounds.

Sophomore forward Steffphon Pettigrew was also a force in the game, putting up a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards. He also held Louisville center Samardo Samuels, the Cardinals leading scorer who averages 21 points per game, to only 11 points.

“You have to give Western credit because they played great,”‘ Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “They did a very good job of executing. We just had an awful week of practice. By the way we practiced this week we did not deserve to win this one.”

Western moves to 3-2 on the season, while U of L was handed its first loss and now hold a 2-1 record.

The Toppers next face Georgia at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Diddle Arena.