Dec. 11, 2001

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina freshman Kevin Martin, who was named Southern Conference men's basketball Player of the Week earlier in the day, lived up to his billing by scoring a game-high 29 points in leading the Catamounts to a 77-73 victory over Guilford Tuesday night at the Ramsey Activity Center.

Martin was 11-of-15 from the field, including a season-best 4-of-6 from 3-point land, and 3-of-3 from the free throw line, while adding three assists and three steals.

Western (5-3) led by as many as 13 (27-14) through the first eight minutes and looked to be in control. However, Paul Kindem made consecutive 3-pointers to spur a 12-3 run and brought the Quakers to within four (30-26) with 8:26 left. Guilford (4-4) would take a one-point lead, 42-41, with 1:37 left as Javon Clarke scored eight points over a four-minute span and Aron McMillian made a layup. Kelvin Wylie and Martin answered with a pair of layups to give Western a 45-42 advantage at the break.

The game remained close with two ties and WCU leading by no more than six until the 8:15 mark of the second half. At that point, Guilford went on an 11-2 run to take a three-point lead (69-66) with 5:28 remaining. The lead changed hands three times from the 2:49 mark to the 1:38 mark. First, Martin made a break-away layup to give Western a 70-69 lead. A minute later, Guilford regained the lead on a McMillian jumper. Seconds later, Martin answered with a 3-pointer to give WCU a 73-71 lead, one which it would not relinquish. After another Martin layup at the 1:38 mark, the teams went scoreless until Guilford's Josh Connor converted an offensive rebound to make the score 75-73 with 19 seconds left. Junior Kori Hatcher drained a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to provide the final margin.

In addition to Martin, reserves Cory Largent and Rans Brempong reached double figures for the Catamounts. Largent was 3-of-4 from long range en route to his 15 points, while Brempong was 5-of-7 from the field in scoring 10 points. Brempong added four blocked shots to tie a Western Carolina school record. The sophomore joins Tommy Lavelle, who played from 1961-64 in the WCU record book with 112 career blocked shots. (Brempong accomplished the feat in 39 games, while Lavelle needed 117.)

McMillian missed his career high by just two points, leading the Quakers with a season-high 21. Jevon Clarke added 18, while Ron Bradford scored a career-high 15 points off the bench. Clarke and Bradford combined to make nine 3-pointers as Guilford made a season-high 11 treys on the night. Josh Connor pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds as the Quakers out-rebounded Western 33-29.

The Catamounts were able to offset the rebounding deficit by shooting 54.9 percent from the floor and forcing 18 turnovers.

Western will return to action with a two-game road swing in Kansas. First, the Cats will play at Kansas State on Dec. 19 (Wednesday), before making the short trip to Wichita State on Dec. 21 (Friday). Both games are set for 8 p.m. (ET). Guilford will not play again until Jan. 2 (7 p.m.) when it travels to Washington & Lee.