NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Kyle Hines scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead 10th-seeded UNC Greensboro past No. 7 Western Carolina in the first round of the 2006 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday at North Charleston Coliseum.
With the victory, UNCG (12-18) advanced to face second-seeded Elon in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday at 6 p.m.
Things started off well for Western Carolina (13-17), as the Catamounts jumped out to an early 10-2 lead. After falling behind by as many as six points, WCU used a 12-0 run to regain a 30-24 lead and take a 32-30 advantage into the locker room.
The see-saw battle continued over the first three minutes of the second period before the Spartans took control with a 10-0 run that gave them a 47-37 lead with under 15 minutes left to play. From there, the Catamounts managed get within a point on two different occasions, including at 62-61 with only 2:21 to go, but a Ricky Hickman jumper, a dunk by Hines and three free throws down the stretch sealed the win for the Spartans.
Hines was the story in the UNCG win, as he registered 13 points and five rebounds in each half for his SoCon-leading 10th double-double of the season and also led the squad defensively with four steals and two blocked shots. Additionally, Hines set a new UNCG sophomore scoring record with 557 points on the season and became the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 184 for his career.
Kevin Oleksiak drained 4-of-6 three-point attempts to add 13 points for the Spartans, who saw Hickman held to under 10 points for the first time since a win over Davidson in the semifinals of the 2005 SoCon Tournament. An all-conference honoree, Hickman scored just eight points on 4-of-17 shooting to have his school-record double-digit scoring streak snapped at 27 games.
Corey Muirhead paced the Catamounts with 25 points, while David Berghoefer added 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the loss.