Western Carolina 66, UNC Asheville 62
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Western Carolina University men’s basketball team trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half against UNC Asheville Sunday afternoon but that would not be the entire story as the Catamounts clawed their way back into the game and eventually won 66-62 over the Bulldogs. Senior James Sinclair scored a game-high 20 points for the Catamounts. Sinclair also led the Catamounts on the boards with eight rebounds.
Freshman Devin Peterson played a large role in WCU’s comeback effort after he was forced into action following a Rhett Harrelson injury. Peterson played 23 minutes in the game including 16 in the second half. He helped slow down UNC Asheville’s leading scorer, Andrew Rowsey, who was held to just 2-of-10 shooting in the second half. Peterson also scored a career-high six points including a thundering dunk in the second half that helped swing the momentum in WCU’s favor.
Harrelson left the game after playing 22 minutes and scoring 10 points for the Catamounts. Junior Mike Brown hit one of the biggest shots of the season late in the second half as he buried a 3-pointer off an assist from Sinclair with just over two minutes to play which gave WCU its first lead of the contest. Brown finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Junior Torrion Brummitt chipped in 11 points and five rebounds while going 7-of-8 at the free throw line including hitting clutch free throws in the final minutes of the game.
WCU shot 40.4 percent from the field including 46.2 percent in the second half. The Bulldogs shot 38.2 percent from the field and only 32.3 percent in the second half. Both teams were solid at the free throw line as the Catamounts connected on 22-of-28 attempts and the Bulldogs knocked down 13-of-16.
The Catamounts won the turnover battled 16-9 and turned that into a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
Both teams played even basketball even basketball over the opening five minutes of play but then the Bulldogs began to pull away. A 7-2 run opened up a 12-7 advantage for the Bulldogs with 14:02 to play. Another 6-0 run later in the half gave the Bulldogs the biggest advantage of the period, 26-12. Following a media timeout the Catamounts began to claw their way back into the game. Brummitt hit a pair of free throws and then Sinclair hit back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to eight. An old-fashioned three-point play by Browning followed by another Sinclair basket cut the lead to just three. After a 3-pointer by UNCA’s Andrew Rowsey, the Catamounts used five free throws to cut the Bulldogs advantage to just one but that would be as close as they would get. A three by David Robertson and a layup for Jaleel Roberts closed out the half for UNCA giving the Bulldogs a 34-28 lead at the break.
The second half began much like the first with the Bulldogs taking control early. UNCA hit its first two shots of the period to go up by 10 with 19:20 left in the game. The lead would eventually balloon to 16 at the 12:29 mark. From that point on the Catamounts went on a 13-0 run that featured five points from Sinclair, four points from Peterson and four points from Brown. A dunk by Jaleel Roberts ended the run but the Catamounts had set the tone and trailed by just five with 7:34 to play.
Browning hit WCU’s next basket and on the very next possession Peterson made a steal and took it coast-to-coast as he threw down on the Bulldog defense to cut the deficit to just one. Both teams traded free throws over the next couple possessions before Brown found himself open in the corner due to an outlet pass from Sinclair. Brown sank the 3-pointer with 2:25 to play which gave WCU its first lead of the game at 61-60. After both teams had two empty possessions, Brummitt was fouled and hot one-of-two at the free throw line to put the Catamounts ahead by two with 49 seconds to play. The Bulldogs would miss four 3-pointers down the stretch as Sinclair sank four free throws. UNCA would get one tip-in basket late but it was not enough as the Catamounts captured a 66-62 victory.
Asheville was led by Rowsey who had 17 points in the game. Jaleel Roberts added 12 points and six boards off the bench while David Robertson chipped in 11 points.
Samford 64, Louisiana-Monroe 50
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- In the biggest margin of victory of the young, ever-improving Padgett Era, the Samford University basketball team battled to a momentous 64-50 triumph over the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on Sunday in a late calendar-year contest held at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford (5-8) fell behind, 7-0, to start Sunday’s contest, but eventually worked its way out front and took a 32-28 advantage into halftime. The Bulldogs only shot 34.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play, but knocked down six 3-point baskets on 18 attempts from long range.
In the second half, Samford shot the ball much better from the field and turned in a sizzling 59.1-percent mark from the floor. Conversely, the Bulldogs’ stout defense limited Louisiana-Monroe (6-5) to a 32.1-percent outing in the second half and a 32.2 mark for the game.
The teams were knotted at 43-43 with 12:33 to play Sunday before Samford used a lightning-quick 14-0 run to take control of the game and build its advantage to 57-43.
During the Bulldogs’ key scoring stretch, Samford received four points apiece from senior Michael Bradley and junior Darius Jones-Gibson. The Bulldogs’ Alex Peters, Christen Cunningham and Brandon Roberts also chipped in with buckets to sustain the team’s critical rally.
Samford boasted a 14-point lead with 4:34 remaining in Sunday’s game and held ULM at bay for the remainder of the contest. The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the evening, 64-48, with just over a minute left in the matchup.
With its win, Samford improved to 6-8 all-time against the Warhawks. The Bulldogs also extended their winning streak at home in the series to three-consecutive games.
Samford finished with three players scoring in double figures Sunday. Roberts, the Bulldogs’ high-scoring sophomore from Decatur, Alabama, led the squad with 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, while Bradley came off the bench to score 11 points and grab seven rebounds.
Bradley, Samford’s 6-foot-10 center from Chattanooga, Tennessee, finished a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs’ Cunningham registered 10 points, five rebounds and three steals Sunday, but failed to hand out an assist for the first time all season. Cunningham, Samford’s highly-touted point guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, entered the game as the Southern Conference’s leading assist player with 58.
Louisiana-Monroe’s Nick Coppola paced his team with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Jamaal Samuel came off the bench to drop in 13.