PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Western Carolina men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with ACC member Pittsburgh Wednesday night inside the Petersen Events Center but a 10-0 run late by the Panthers proved to be the difference as Pitt hung on for a 79-73 victory in the Gotham Classic finale for both teams. The Catamounts led for nearly 13 minutes in the game and were paced by senior Rhett Harrelson who scored 21 points for the Purple and Gold.
“I could not be more proud of our guys,” said head coach Larry Hunter. “We had great preparation the last couple of days and came in with a great mindset.”
Harrelson, who was coming off a 0-8 shooting performance against Morehead State, nailed six 3-pointers and finished 7-of-12 from the field with a pair of rebounds and two steals. Seniors Justin Browning and Mike Brown along with freshman Elijah Pughsley joined Harrelson in double-figures. Pughsley came up huge in the second half as he spelled Harrelson for several minutes and scored 11 second half points including a pair of 3-pointers and one old-fashioned three point play.
Brown added 13 points, four rebounds and a team-high tying four assists. Browning scored in double-figures for the fourth-straight game with 10 points and tied for the team lead in rebounding with six boards. Freshman Marc Gosselin played 26 valuable minutes as he tied for the team lead in rebounds (6) and assists (4) while limiting one of Pitt’s top players, Michael Young, to 12 points.
Senior Torrion Brummitt battled foul trouble for the second-straight game but once again made the most of his limited minutes as he scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
The group of Pughsley and sophomores Devin Peterson, Haboubacar Mutombo, and Charlendez Brooks came off the bench in the second half and helped regain the lead for the Catamounts as they scored 17-straight points to take a 61-54 lead over the Panthers. Up until that point in the game all 44 of WCU’s points had come from the five starters.
The Panthers took advantage of the free throw line as they scored 29 of their 79 points at the charity stripe connecting on 29-of-33 attempts. WCU was not as fortunate as the Catamounts received just 12 trips to the line and nailed eight attempts.
WCU’s largest advantage came from beyond the 3-point arc as WCU hit nine triples compared to Pittsburgh’s two 3-point field goals. The Catamounts also won the turnover battle 14-10 and had three more offensive boards than the Panthers despite losing the rebounding battle 39-29.
Pitt opened the game with back-to-back scores to take a 4-0 lead but an 11-0 run by the Catamounts that featured eight points from Brummitt including a pair of 3-point plays gave WCU its first lead of the contest. The Catamounts would lead until the 11:07 mark of the first half when a Sheldon Jeter jumper gave Pitt a 17-16 advantage. The Panthers would lead the rest of the way in the first half but the Catamounts kept it close as Pitt took a 37-32 lead into the break.
Harrelson opened the second half with a three to cut the lead to two but Pitt would quickly extend its lead to nine points at 44-35 with 17:51 to play. The Catamounts would not give up as five minutes later they began a 7-0 run sparked by the bench to give WCU a 51-50 lead. The bench would continue to score as Pughsley would hit a pair of free throws at the 7:13 mark to give WCU its largest lead of the game at 61-54.
The Catamounts hung onto to the lead until the 2:37 mark when a 3-pointer by Pitt’s Chris Jones gave the Panthers a 68-66 lead. The three was part of a 10-0 run by the Panthers that ended with Pittsburgh leading 73-66 with just 32 seconds remaining. The Panthers hit nine-straight free throws in the final minute of action to keep the Catamounts at bay as Pittsburgh took the game 79-73.
Pittsburgh placed four players in double-figures led by Jamel Artis who scored 29 points while grabbing eight rebounds.