The WKU men’s basketball team opens its season on the road. St. Joe’s plays host to the Toppers with a 6:30 p.m. CT tip on Friday. Follow along with updates from the Herald.

WKU 98, St. Joe’s 70 — Final

Well, it’s a dominant win for WKU in its season opener. The Toppers got 31 points from Sergio Kerusch, as well as a double-double from Juan Pattillo.

The final stats haven’t come through yet, but WKU also finished shooting right around 60 percent from the field.

We’ll have more from the game later tonight at www.wkuherald.com. Thanks for following.

WKU 93, St. Joe’s 63 — 3:37 2nd

This has just gotten silly. Sergio Kerusch makes his fifth 3-pointer to give him a game-high 28 points, and WKU is running away with its season opener.

The Toppers are shooting just under 60 percent from the floor now, a great sign for a team Ken McDonald said would have to win with defense.

WKU 83, St. Joe’s 59 — 7:43 2nd

It looks like WKU has this one in hand, pushing its lead to 24.

The Tops are shooting 58 percent from the floor now. Sergio Kerusch, Cliff Dixon, Steffphon Pettigrew and Juan Pattillo are all in double figures for WKU. Kerusch leads 23 points and nine rebounds.

WKU 69, St. Joe’s 50 — 11:52 2nd

WKU is firmly in control of this one, swelling its lead to 19. Sergio Kerusch has been lights-out from the field and leads all scorers with 21.

WKU 58, St. Joe’s 44 — 15:53 2nd

WKU jumps right back out of the gate in the second half, nabbing a 14-point lead at the first media timeout.

Juan Pattillo started the scoring in the second half with an alley-oop dunk, and he most recently grabbed a steal and found Brandon Peters ahead for a one-handed slam.

WKU 48, St. Joe’s 38 — Half

Solid finish to the first half for WKU, taking a 10-point lead into the break. Sergio Kerusch has been great off the bench, pouring in 16 points and grabbing six rebounds.

Steffphon Pettigrew and Cliff Dixon each have 11 points.

It’s been a solid showing for the Tops with so many players playing their first game with WKU, so I would imagine Ken McDonald has to be pleased up to this point.

Ken Brown — the starting point guard — only played 7 minutes, and Jamal Crook had four assists with no turnovers, so it appears Crook’s taken the upper hand in that battle. Juan Pattillo has had a fairly quiet night with four points.

WKU shot 51 percent in the first half and outrebounded St. Joe’s by five.

WKU 36, St. Joe’s 28 — 3:52 1st

It’s been a game of runs at St. Joe’s, as the Tops have rolled back out to an eight-point lead with less than four minutes to go in the first half.

The stats in Philly are behind once again, but Steffphon Pettigrew has scored six of WKU’s last eight points.

WKU 25, St. Joe’s 22 — 7:39 1st

St. Joe’s uses a 9-0 run to tie the game at 22-22, but a 3-pointer by Steffphon Pettigrew allows WKU to reclaim the lead.

The Toppers have forced a lot of shots tonight despite shooting over 47 percent from the field. It’s already abundantly clear that the Tops are at their best when they’re playing solid defense and making the most of their opponents’ mistakes.

Cliff Dixon leads WKU with 8 points.

WKU 18, St. Joe’s 10 — 11:51 1st

WKU has extended its lead to eight with a 9-2 run since St. Joe’s hit its second 3-pointer of the game. Sergio Kerusch and Cliff Dixon each have six points for WKU.

The Tops have ushered several players in and out, all the way down to freshman walk-on point guard Mike Gabbard, who’s now wearing a No. 20 jersey. Good to see him leave the old Anthony Sally gear behind.

WKU 12, St. Joe’s 8 — 15:32 1st

The Tops are up early in this one, and five different players have scored so far for WKU. Sergio Kerusch leads the way early with 4 points.

It seems they’re having some stat problems in Philadelphia, but we’ll be sure to send along stats as they fix in the problem in the arena.

Pregame:

WKU is about 15 minutes from tipoff in Philadelphia against St. Joe’s. The Hawks went 11-20 last year, which was the worst finish in coach Phil Martelli’s tenure.

The Toppers have three newcomers in the lineup tonight, according to WKU’s Big Red Radio Network. The starters will be Ken Brown, Caden Dickerson, Brandon Peters, Steffphon Pettigrew and Juan Pattillo.

Obviously the biggest shockers there are that senior forward Sergio Kerusch is once again sitting behind Peters, and Brown managed to beat out sophomore Jamal Crook for the point guard spot. Interesting developments.

St. Joe’s is led by big-man Idris Hilliard, who avearged 10.2 points per game last season. The Hawks were picked to finish 12th in the Atlantic 10 Conference by the league’s coaches in the preseason.