Fresh off a big win against third-ranked Louisville on Sunday, the Toppers beat Georgia 67-63 in a packed E.A Diddle Arena.

In just his sixth game at the helm, coach Ken McDonald defeated his former mentor and current Georgia head coach Dennis Felton.

“I was pretty emotional shaking his hand at the end,” McDonald said. “Their whole staff is terrific. I’ve been with them for a long time and I’ve known Dennis since I was 24.”

Despite going into halftime down three points, Western regained the lead with a 12-6 run early in the second and kept it, survivng some scares with Georgia moving within two points, but ultimately holding off the Bulldogs for a victory.

Reigning Sun Belt Conference player of the week senior guard A.J. Slaughter, coming of a career game against the Cardinals, had another strong performance, scoring 16 in the first half on his way to 20 points, three assists and a steal.

Slaughter said that the confidence level of the team has seen a major makeover, less than ten days after a big loss to Murray State.

“It has dramatically changed,” Slaughter said. “After the Murray State game a lot of guys’ heads were down. Now you can see it in their eyes that they have all the confidence in the world and we could take anybody right now.”

Bulldog forward Terrance Woodbury led the team in scoring with 18 points, 16 of those coming in the first half.

Western moves to 4-2 on the season, while Georgia falls to 5-2.

Read more about Western’s win in Thursday’s Herald.