Story courtesy of Western Carolina sports information
Western Carolina 76, Montreat 59
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Western Carolina turned a nine-point lead (61-50) with 6:20 left to play into a 18-point advantage (71-53) nearly three minutes later thanks to a 3-pointer by Corey Muirhead and an old fashion 3-point play by Antonio Russell as the Catamounts pulled away late for a 76-59 over Montreat Wednesday night at the Ramsey Activity Center.
Russell, for the seventh time in nine games this season, led Western Carolina (4-5) in scoring with 19 points, while fellow sophomore Eric Wilson added 17 points. Muirhead chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and five assists and David Berghoefer contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.
Montreat (4-2) kept pace with the Catamounts over the first five minutes of the game, leading by one after a Tim Lewis layup at the 14:54 mark. Then, Western’s Wilson and Russell sank four consecutive free throws to put the Cats up three (13-10). While the Cavaliers kept the game close, Western never relinquished the remainder of the game.
Late in the first half, Jared Outing capped a 6-0 run with two free throws, giving the Catamounts their largest lead of the first half, 30-21. Montreat rallied as David Robinson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Jazz Cathcart sank a layup with 3:39 left before the break, making the score 34-31. Only four more points were scored the remainder of the first half, a jumper by Western’s Stan Johnson and a dunk by Muirhead to give the Cats a 38-31 cushion at the break.
Robinson, who scored 12 points, struck once again early in the second half for the Cavaliers, hitting a trey at the 15:06 mark to make it a four-point game (42-38). However, Western had an 8-0 run to go up 12 (50-38) with 13:42 left, then used a 13-4 run from the 9:25 mark to the 4:18 mark to put the game out of reach.
Montreat was led in scoring by Aaron Collazo with 13 points, making 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Lewis added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Noble Anthony scored eight points and eight rebounds.
While the rebounds were even at 30-30, Western, who shot 48.1 percent from the field for the game, held Montreat to just 33 percent shooting in the second half and forced the Cavaliers into 22 turnovers with just seven assists.
Western Carolina will turn around to host another Western North Carolina school, hosting mountain rival UNC Asheville in a doubleheader Saturday. The WCU-UNCA women’s game will start at 4:30, while the men’s game is set to begin at 7:00 pm. In addition to some low single-game tickets for the doubleheader (call 1-800-34-GOWCU for more information), fans can enter the game for free if they bring a new, unwrapped toy for a child, which will go to the Christmas Store of Jackson County. Also, during the game, kids can have their picture taken with Santa Claus in the Ramsey Center.
Story courtesy of Wofford sports information
East Carolina 66, Wofford 52
SPARTANBURG, SC ? Corey Rouse scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead East Carolina to a 66-62 win over Wofford at Benjamin Johnson Arena on Wednesday night. The win was ECU’s second in five days over the Terriers. The Pirates posted a 70-68 overtime win over Wofford in Greenville, NC on Saturday night.
Sam Hinnant added 15 points for East Carolina (3-1) while Japhet McNeil chipped in with 10. Wofford (2-4) was led by Drew Gibson with a career-high 13 points. Tyler Berg and Shane Nichols each scored 11.
Wofford led for most of the first half, building as much as a seven-point lead at 30-23 with 3:30 to play in the half. East Carolina scored the final six points of the stanza on three free throws by Mike Castro and a 3-point field goal by Tom Hammonds to close the margin to 30-29 at half.
The lead changed hands twice early in the second half with the Pirates taking a 33-30 lead on a pair of layups by Hinnant and Tyronne Beale. Wofford regained the lead at 34-33 following a jumper by Shane Nichols and a pair of free throws from Howard Wilkerson. The Terriers extended their lead to five at 40-35 after 3-pointers by Adam Sheehan and Shane Nichols were sandwiched around a pair of Rouse free throws.
The Terriers held a 44-41 lead with 13:47 to play in the game when East Carolina went on a 16-4 run. A jumper by Hammonds and a free throw from Rouse tied the game at 44. A 3-pointer by ECU’s Courtney Captain gave the Pirates a 47-44 lead before Wofford’s Matt O’Connor tied the game with a triple. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Captain and Hammond put ECU ahead 53-47 before McNeil turned a steal into a layup and a 55-47 lead.
Wofford closed to within 3 at 57-54 with 3:18 remaining on Gibson’s layup and two free throws. But McNeil scored five straight points on a pair of field goals and a free throw to extend the Pirates’ lead to 8 at 62-54 with 31 seconds remaining.
Wofford’s Howard Wilkerson, the team’s leading scorer with a 15.6 average, was held to a season-low four points. O’Connor had a career-best three 3-pointers. Nichols and Gibson also each had three treys.
“We didn’t play well,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “I never thought we got any wind under our sails and got going defensively. We weren’t aggressive, we weren’t tough and the better team beat us.”
Wofford will host Virginia-Wise on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Benjamin Johnson Arena. East Carolina will visit Old Dominion on Saturday night.
Story courtesy of UNC Greensboro sports information
South Carolina 77, UNC Greensboro 55
COLUMBIA- Taurence Kinsey scored nine of his 20 points in a three-minute span of the second half as South Carolina took control on its way to a 77-55 win over UNC Greensboro in men’s basketball action at the Colonial Center on Wednesday night.
Kinsey scored nine of South Carolina’s points in a 19-7 run that pushed a 12-point game at the half out of the Spartans’ reach by midway through the second half.
Bart Tooms led UNCG with 15 points. The junior from Amsterdam hit 6-of-7 from the floor, including both of his three-point attempts, and shared team-high honors with four rebounds. Sophomore Kevin Oleksiak added 12 points for the Spartans, his fifth double-figure scoring game in six contests this season.
“They have a good team,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “They got some easy baskets off of our turnovers. If we could’ve got some baskets early, it could have been different. I liked the way we got after it on the boards. We were right there on the tip-ins.”
The Spartans played shorthanded on Wednesday night as four players were suspended due to violations of team rules. Ricky Hickman and Marc Campbell will rejoin the team for practice on Thursday. Derrick Bernard and Devin Boddie will both have their status re-evaluated after the team returns to Greensboro.
South Carolina (5-1) jumped out quickly on the Spartans, taking a 21-7 lead in the first 5:30. The Gamecocks came out hot, connecting on seven of their first 10 from the field. The Spartans got hot, however, and battled back to within eight, 23-15, after Bart Tooms knocked down a baseline jumper.
South Carolina, meanwhile, cooled off considerably, missing 11 of their next 14 shots as UNCG trailed by seven with five minutes to play in the first half. A quick 9-0 run by the Gamecocks, however, opened the lead back up to 36-20.
The margin was only 12 at the half, 39-27, although the Gamecocks committed just two turnovers in the first half to UNCG’s 13. South Carolina took advantage of the Spartan mistakes, converting the 13 turnovers into 25 points. UNCG, however, shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, compared to South Carolina’s 41 percent.
South Carolina stretched the lead to 20 early in the second half. The Gamecocks scored 19 of the first 26 points of the second half to take a 58-34 lead with under 12 minutes to play. Kinsey scored 10 of his points during that run.
UNCG (3-3) will host College of Charleston in its Southern Conference opener Saturday night at 7 pm.
Virginia Commonwealth 69, Elon 49
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Jesse Pellot-Rosa led a balanced attack with 13 points as Virginia Commonwealth pulled away to defeat Elon 69-49 Wednesday night.
The Rams (2-1) took an early lead, but the Phoenix tied the game at 12 with 7:43 remaining in the first half. The Rams went on a 7-0 run, and the Phoenix (1-4) missed 4-of-5 field goal attempts and had seven turnovers before the break.
Leading 27-20 at the half, the Rams hit their first four field goal attempts of the second half, three 3-pointers, taking a 40-21 lead with 16:01 left. The Phoenix could get no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
B.A. Walker added 11 points for the Rams, who had eight players with five or more points.
Rasmi Gambel led the Phoenix with 12 points. Scottie Rice and Jackson Atoyedi added 10 apiece. Atoyedi contributed 10 rebounds, helping Elon to a 37-35 edge on the boards. However, the Phoenix had 23 turnovers, 15 of which resulted in steals for the Rams.
Charlotte 85, Davidson 81 (2OT)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Charlotte's Marcus Bennett nailed a 3-pointer with about 1:23 left in double overtime to break a tie and help lift the 49ers to an 85-81 win over Davidson on Wednesday.
Bennett's field goal gave Charlotte (4-3) an 82-79 lead and the 49ers used free throws to seal the victory. Brendan Winters' layup and free throw with 12.8 seconds left in the first overtime tied it at 74-74 and sent the game to a second overtime for Davidson (2-2).
Winters led Davidson with 24 points.
Leemire Goldwire scored a career-high 26 points, including five in the first overtime period, to help rally the 49ers.
Goldmire, who came into the game averaging 7.3 points per game, had 13 points in the second half as Charlotte came back from an eight-point deficit to send the game to overtime.
The performance offset a sub-par night for Curtis Withers, who was held to 11 points on 3 of 12 from the floor and fouled out in overtime. Withers came into the game averaging 19.2 points and 12 rebounds per game for Charlotte.
Forward De'Angelo Alexander had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Charlotte.