ETSU 69, Winthrop 64
ROCK HILL, S.C. – In a matchup of team’s that are expected to battle for conference titles in their respective conferences, the ETSU men’s basketball team made multiple defensive stops down the stretch and senior guard Jalen Riley scored seven decisive points in the final minute to give the Buccaneers a 69-64 road win over Winthrop Monday night inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
With the game tied at 61 and just 49 seconds left, Riley connected on a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring and later hit four straight free throws to ice the victory. Despite shooting just 31 percent from the floor on a tough offensive night, the Bucs out-rebounded Winthrop 43-40, turned the ball over just 10 times and held the Eagles to 39 percent shooting on their home floor to get the victory.
Riley’s came after he had struggled to shoot just 1-for-8 from the field before hitting what was the decisive shot of the game. He finished with 10 points on the night, while junior forward Lester Wilson scored a team-high 20 and senior guard Rashawn Rembert netted 16.
Wilson was a difference maker in the first half and helped stake the Bucs to a 32-28 lead at the break. Despite two quick fouls and heading to the bench early on, Bartow gambled by putting Wilson back in the game with over 12 minutes left before the intermission and he responded with 14 first-half points – thanks mainly to a 4-for-6 effort from beyond the arc.
Along with Wilson’s offensive output, the Bucs’ zone defense perplexed the Eagles, holding them to a 39 percent shooting effort from the floor and 33 percent mark from 3-point range before intermission. ETSU also forced nine Winthrop turnovers and out-rebounded the Eagles 20-18 before halftime.
After the break, Winthrop found a new rhythm on offense and opened with a 15-3 run to take their largest lead of the game at 43-35 with 15:12 left in regulation. During that span the Bucs did not have a field goal, but finally broke that string thanks to a 3-pointer by senior guard Jalen Riley that made it 43-39 with 12:49 left.
Riley’s basket ignited the Bucs from outside, as Rembert hit three straight 3-pointers and sophomore A.J. Merriweather added a fourth to power a 15-7 spurt and put ETSU back in front 54-50 with 6:20 left in the game. Winthrop answered at that point with a 7-0 run to make it 59-54, but the Bucs battled back again and tied the game at 61 thanks to a pair of free throws by Rembert with 2:30 left.
Making multiple stops and keeping Winthrop from making a field goal for a four-minute stretch at the end, Riley ultimately made it 64-61 on his 3-pointer with 49 seconds left. Later on, Winthrop did make it interesting when Keon Johnson’s air-balled 3-pointer found the hands of teammate Keon Moore, who scored and was fouled on the play, making it 65-64 on his foul shot. However, Riley was fouled and hit his two free throws, and was later fouled again when another Winthrop 3-pointer missed the mark.
Moore finished with a game-high 24 points and posted a double-double with 10 rebounds to lead Winthrop’s attack, while teammate Andrew Smith pitched in 12 points.
For the Bucs, sophomore guard Devin Harris also had a solid game with nine points and eight rebounds. As a team, the Bucs also shot 73 percent from the foul line.
Western Carolina 88, Oakland University 79 (2OT)
ROCHESTER, Mich. – For the first time since 2012, the Western Carolina men’s basketball team found themselves in double-overtime. Only two current Catamounts were on the team that fell in double overtime to Davidson in the 2012 Southern Conference Tournament Championship game but Monday nights result would not go the same way as Western Carolina pulled away in extra time to take an 88-79 victory over host Oakland University in its opening game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic Regional Round.
The two overtime victory was the first for the Catamounts since 1984 when WCU defeated Furman 88-85.
Senior James Sinclair continued his 20 or more scoring streak with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior Rhett Harrelson set a new career-high for points scored for the second time this season with 20 as well. He added two assists and two steals to his stat line.
Junior Mike Brown, who opened the game going 6-of-6 from the field, finished with 17 points which tied a career-high set last season against Niagara. He also had nine rebounds and two steals despite missing both overtimes after fouling out with 25 seconds left in the game. Junior Torrion Brummitt, who was named the Western Carolina Properties Player of the Game on the Catamount Sports Network, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Both numbers tied career-highs for Brummitt.
The Catamounts improved their record to 2-2 on the year while the Golden Grizzlies fell to 0-3. WCU will not have much rest as they return to action tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m. to take on Georgia State University in the second game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic Regional Round.
WCU came out on fire in the opening half of the game as the Catamounts shot 69.6 percent from the field while knocking down 7-of-10 from 3-point range. Western Carolina held a 42-30 lead at the break and looked to be running away with the game.
The second half was a much different story. WCU shot just 27.6 percent from the field and connected on just 2-of-12 from 3-point range. The Catamounts were able to hang onto the lead until the 4:22 mark of the second half when a 3-pointer from Kahlil Felder tied the game at 59. Nearly two minutes later Oakland’s Dante Williams connected on one of two free throws to give the Grizzlies their first lead of the game since the 8:59 mark of the first half.
A pair of Brummitt free throws and a Harrelson three pushed WCU’s lead to four with 34 seconds left in regulation. The Grizzlies drew a foul with 25 seconds left on a 3-pointer. Max Hooper hit the first free throw to cut the lead to three. He missed the next two but Felder was able to grab the offensive board and find Corey Petros for the layup with 18 ticks remaining. Petros was fouled on the shot and connected on the and-one to tie the game at 64. The Catamounts were unable to get a shot off in the remaining 18 seconds of the game which sent to match-up to overtime.
The Golden Grizzlies never led in the second overtime period but they would not let the Catamounts get too far away. WCU held two four-point leads in the period but a 3-pointer by Felder tied the game with 15 seconds left. The Catamounts were able to get a final shot in the first overtime but the Sinclair jumper missed the mark as time expired.
The second overtime was all Catamounts. Sinclair opened the scoring with a pair of free throws and then Brummitt connected on a jumper to give WCU a four-point lead with 3:50 to play. The Grizzlies cut WCU’s lead to one twice but an 8-0 run over the final 1:51 of the game gave Western Carolina the hard fought victory. Brummitt scored six of Western Carolina’s second overtime points.
Oakland was led by Felder who scored a game-high 26 points while grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out six assists and picking up four steals. Petros added 14 points and seven boards while Tommie McCune and Williams added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
WCU won the battle of the boards 43-37 while also turning the ball over three less times, 17-14.