Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Catamounts Win Opening Game

London, Ontario - Kevin Martin scored 31 points and had eight steals to lead the Western Carolina men's basketball team to an 87-78 victory over the London Orion, a professional team in the Canadian National Basketball League, August 9 at Fanshawe College. The game was the first of five for the Catamounts on their 12-day tour in Canada.

Western was down as many as 14 in the first half, but trimmed its deficit to seven with 30 seconds left. After a WCU basket, Martin stole a pass and drained a 40-foot basket as time expired to put the Cats down by just two at the break.

The Cats only shot 37 percent from the field in the first half, but drained 58 percent of their shots in the second half to pull out the come-from-behind victory. Western also dominated the boards, pulling down 42 rebounds, compared to just 29 by the Orion.

"We started slow and had a little anxiety, especially our Canadian kids (Rans Brempong and Corey Muirhead) who were playing in front of their family and friends," said WCU head coach Steve Shurina. "After struggling much of the first half, we gained our composure and played well in the second half. We played terrific defense, holding Orion to 36 percent shooting. We also forced 17 turnovers, thanks to 15 steals. Overall, this was a great start to our trip."

Martin hit 10-of-25 shots from the field and made all nine of his free throws in scoring his 31 points. In addition to his eight steals, the junior tallied five rebounds and dished out six assists. David Berghoefer and Rans Brempong also had an excellent effort in the win. Berghoefer, a 6-10 sophomore center, scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds. He also had two blocked shots and two steals. Brempong, a senior who hails from Thornhill, Ontario, scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds. The senior, who is WCU's all-time leader in blocked shots, added four rejections.

Jared Outing added six points and six rebounds, Corey Muirhead scored four points, James Johnson dished out five assists and scored six points, Emre Atsur also contributed six points with three assists, Alex Osipovitch had eight points and four boards and Terrence Woodyard rounded out the scoring with four points.

Western will return to action on Aug. 11, facing Carleton University, who won the Canadian National Collegiate Championship this past season. When not playing, be sure to follow the Catamounts on catamountsports.com as junior forward Terrence Woodyard writes his daily journal.