Without junior forward Sergio Kerusch in the rotation, Western went 7-7 through the months of December and January.
With him, the Toppers nearly overcame their road woes last Thursday at Louisiana-Monroe and followed up by thrashing Troy 87-69 Saturday night.
Although the team never used Kerusch’s absence as an excuse for losing, senior guard A.J. Slaughter said [...]

Head Coach Ken McDonald made many lofty predictions before this season started — predictions that relied on Western playing team defense and, in turn, taking better shots on the offensive end.
That’s the kind of game the Toppers played against Troy last Saturday, holding the Trojans to 15.8 percent 3-point shooting while dropping 12 3-pointers themselves [...]

Western looks like an NCAA Tournament team some days. Other times, it plays like a mid-pack Sun Belt Conference team.
In their latest contest, the Toppers provided a reminder that they — not division-leading Troy — are the defending Sun Belt Champions.
Western (13-11, 6-6 Sun Belt) led from wire to wire in a 87-69 win over [...]

Charge the Toppers for reading their own press clippings entering a promising season, but they won’t be found guilty of giving up just because everything hasn’t gone according to plan.
That’s the message senior guard A.J. Slaughter was out to deliver days after Western snapped a five-game losing streak — its longest since the 2003-2004 season.
The [...]