BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Jaheam Cornwall's corner three at the final horn was just off the mark and Gardner-Webb's first game of the season finished as an 86-84 loss at preseason C-USA favorite Western Kentucky on Thursday night.

The Runnin' Bulldogs (0-1) went 10 players deep and saw nine men score in holding the lead for more than 16 minutes in a game that featured 13 lead changes and eight ties.

Jacob Falko led the way with 19 points in his Gardner-Webb debut, Cornwall and Lance Terry each had 15 points and Kareem Reid worked inside for 11 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots despite being matched up with future NBA first-rounder Charles Bassey for much of the night.

Gardner-Webb controlled the game for much of the first half, making 8-of-12 from long range before the intermission. The Runnin' Bulldogs took a 43-40 lead into the half and led 45-40 after Reid's dunk to start the second half.

Western Kentucky started to exert itself on both ends, however, surging in front behind the 6-foot-11 Bassey – a former top-10 national recruit. The Hilltoppers extended their lead to as many as 10 points  when Josh Anderson picked off a pass and ran out for a fast break dunk with 11:39 to go.

Trailing 65-55, Gardner-Webb went on an 8-0 run behind Cornwall and Falko. Cornwall's long three with 9:52 left capped that run and pulled Tim Craft's squad within 65-63. Reid connected on a jump hook over Bassey two trips later to trim the lead to 67-65 and followed his own miss of a blocked shot to tie the score with 8:05 to play.

Bassey dunked home an easy chance for another Hilltoppers lead, but Falko's pull up with 7:28 to play tied the score again. Reid swatted away a short shot by Taveion Hollingsworth on the next defensive trip for GWU and Terry drained a long transition three ball to put Gardner-Webb up 72-69 with 6:59 to play in the game.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Western Kentucky gave the home team a lead for good, but Gardner-Webb would trim that advantage as close as one point several times down the stretch.

Cornwall's driving layup with 11 seconds left cut the lead to 85-84 and Bassey missed the first of two free throws on the other end. Western Kentucky's center made the second for an 86-84 lead, but Gardner-Webb had plenty of time to try for the win.

Cornwall drove right and got to an open spot in the corner, but his contested chance would not fall.

Gardner-Webb shot 53.4 percent for the game overall (31-of-58) and made 63.2 percent of its three-point shots (12-of-19). In addition to the double figures scoring, Gardner-Webb got seven points off the bench from freshman Jordan Sears, six points and two blocks from freshman Anthony Selden, five points and four assists from freshman D'Maurian Williams and four points from freshman Jamaine Mann.

Ludovic Dufeal finished with only two points in the game, but blocked four shots and affected another.

Western Kentucky shot 42.9 percent from the floor (15-of-35), but made 14-of-19 from the free throw line and knocked down 8-of-18 from deep.

Bassey went for a career-high 29 points and finished with 14 rebounds and three blocked shots on 13-of-19 shooting. Anderson contributed 16 points and Luke Frampton nailed 5-of-5 from deep for 15 points. Leading scorer Taveion Hollingsworth was harassed into 3-of-13 shooting and finished with just nine points against a number of Gardner-Webb defenders.

The Runnin' Bulldogs will stay on the road, traveling to face Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm. The game will air live on Fox Regional Sports Networks (RSN), with AT&T Sportsnet carrying the game locally in the Steel City.

Saturday's game will also be simulcast via the ESPN app (ESPN3) in areas where it is not blacked out by the streaming service.