BOCA RATON, Fla. -- For the second time in as many games, Western Kentucky University (18-12, 11-5 SBC) needed overtime to notch an impressive road conference win, knocking off Florida Atlantic (14-14, 10-7 SBC) 78-69 at FAU Arena on Thursday night.  It is the first time in 12 years that WKU has had to play back-to-back OT games, and the first time in Hilltopper history that they have won consecutive overtime road contests. 

WKU remains one game behind Middle Tennessee and Troy for first-place in the Sun Belt East Division with one game to play.  The Toppers are tied for fourth overall, also one game back of North Texas for the overall lead, but currently hold the fourth seed. 

Tied 61-61 with 1.5 seconds left in regulation, junior Steffphon Pettigrew misfired on a pair of free throws, resulting in the extra session.  AJ Slaugther, fresh of his overtime heroics at Arkansas State on Saturday, scored just 16 ticks into OT, sparking an 11-4 run as the Toppers seized control and never let up.  Slaughter scored 13 of his team-high 19 points after halftime including seven during the decisive overtime run, the last with 1:20 to play to put WKU up 72-67. 

In the first half, after a Raymond Taylor triple put Florida Atlantic up 10-7 with 12:19 on the clock, WKU rattled off a 12-4 spurt to take a 19-14 advantage with 6:07 left on a Sergio Kerusch three-pointer.  Kerusch scored the last five during the run, ending a stretch of Jeremy Evans and Pettigrew accounting of 12 of the Toppers' first 14 points. 

Kerusch finished with his second double double in the last three games, registering 11 points to go with 12 rebounds.  Pettigrew connected on 7-of-12 from the field for 16 points while Evans tied a season-high with 19 points and grabbed a career-best 17 boards.  With two blocks, Evans is now just one blocked shot shy of tying Chris Marcus' all-time WKU record of 214. 

Brett Royster's dunk with 5:20 remaining pulled the Owls within a point at 19-18, but the Tops scored nine of the game's next 13 points to stretch the spread to its largest of the opening stanza, 28-22, and led at the break 28-24. 

Taylor drained another triple to cap five quick points in the opening 49 seconds of the second half by the Owls, drawing Florida Atlantic within a point once again, but Caden Dickerson and Kerusch knocked down back-to-back treys while Evans converted a three-point play as WKU extended the bulge to 37-29 with 17:11 left. 

Florida Atlantic got within three on a couple of ocassions, but the Hilltoppers had the answer each time, eventually taking their largest lead of the game at 57-48 on a Kerusch lay-up with 6:00 remaining.  But Greg Gantt, who came alive with 16 of his team-high 19 after halftime, connected on back-to-back threes to start what would be a 13-4 run, resulting in a game-tying three by Gantt with 18.2 seconds remaining. 

Royster finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks for Florida Atlantic while Taylor added 14 points and seven assists. 

WKU dominated the glass 48-25 and held Florida Atlantic without a made field goal in overtime while shooting 48.4 percent from the field including 57.6 percent after halftime. 

WKU concludes the 2009-10 regular season on Saturday, February 27 at FIU in Miami.  Game time is set for 7:00 PM CT.

TEAM NOTES:
• WKU improves to 8-1 all-time against Florida Atlantic, now having won seven-straight over the Owls
• WKU improves to 283-120 all-time against the 12 current members of the Sun Belt Conference
• WKU extends its Sun Belt Conference winning streak to season-best six games
• WKU remains one game out of first place in the Sun Belt East Division, but with tonight's win is currently tied for fourth overall (and would be the four seed in the SBC Tournament as of today)
• WKU played back-to-back overtime games for the first time since December 29 and 30, 1998 versus Oklahoma and Cal Poly
• WKU improves to 3-1 in OT games this season; the four overtime games is the most since the 2004-05 squad participated in five extra session contests
• WKU has now won back-to-back road OT games for the first time in school history (only other time they had even won back-to-back overtime games was February 10 and 13, 1992 at UCF 81-78 and then at home against Louisiana Tech 79-78)
• WKU has now made a three-pointer in 701-straight games (dating back to the inaugural season for the shot in 1986-87), ranking sixth all-time
• WKU played in its 26th of 28 consecutive TV games (WKU is 16-10 in those 26 games)
• WKU led at the half for the 13th time this season, improving to 10-3 in those games
• WKU sanpped Florida Atlantic's six-game homecourt winning streak, handing the Owls just their second conference loss of the year at FAU Arena
• Since Sergio Kerusch returned to the line-up eight games ago, the Hilltoppers at 6-2 (6-1 in Sun Belt play), are averaging 78.2 ppg, have a scoring margin of +11.0 ppg, and are out rebounding opponents by 8.5 rpg 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
• AJ Slaughter, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week, entered the game second in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring at 17.8 ppg; the only Hilltopper to ever lead the league in scoring was Jack Jennings in 1991-92 averaging 19.1 ppg
• Slaughter extended his double-digit scoring streak to 17 games
• Slaughter had his career-best streak of four-straight games with 20 or more points halted with 19 points tonight
• Slaughter scored 19 points to give him 1,522 for his career, moving past Art Spoelstra (1952-54) for 12th on the WKU all-time scoring list; next up is Chris Robinson (1993-96) at 1,656
• Slaughter led the team in scoring with 19 points, the 26th time in 30 games this season that either Slaughter or Pettigrew has led the Hilltoppers in scoring
• With his two blocked shots tonight, Evans now has 213 for his career, moving within one block of tying Chris Marcus (2000-03) for the WKU all-time lead
• Evans scored 19 points to give him 1,037 for his career, passing Gene Rhodes (1949-52) for 39th on the WKU all-time scoring list; next up is Derek Robinson (1999-2002) at 1,038 points
• Steffphon Pettigrew scored 16 points to give him 1,019 for his career, passing John Oldham (1943, 1947-49), Don "Duck" Ray (1942-43, 1947-48), Bob Daniels (1954-57), and Carlisle Towery (1938-40) for 41st on the WKU all-time scoring list; next up is Gene Rhodes (1949-52) at 1,029
• In scoring 16 points, Steffphon Pettigrew reached double figures for 25th time in 30 games this season
• Caden Dickerson scored three points to give him 169 this season, leaving him 31 shy of becoming just the 11th freshman in WKU history to score at least 200 points in a season
• Evans tied a season-high with 19 points and pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds, his fourth double double of the season and 13th of his career
• Sergio Kerusch notched his second double double in the past three games, his third of the season, and 13th of his career
• With double doubles by both Evans and Kerusch, it marks the second time this season WKU has had two players with double doubles in the same game (previously it had not happened since February 24, 2005, a span of 145 games)