Dec. 15, 2003

Final Stats

Spartanburg, S.C. - Kevin Martin, the nation's leading scorer, had a game-high 33 points to lead Western Carolina to a 93-79 victory over Wofford in the Southern Conference opener for both teams at Benjamin Johnson Arena Monday night.

Coming into the game, Wofford (3-4, 0-1 SoCon) was second in the league in rebounding (42.0 avg.) and was one of the SoCon's best in 3-point shooting, making a league-best 9.83 per contest and making 37.6 percent from long range. Western (3-3, 1-0) was leading the SoCon in allowing its opponents to make just 20 percent from 3-point range and was ninth in the league by averaging just 35.8 rebounds per contest.

While the Terriers hit their season average by making 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, making 9-of-24 on the night, Western only allowed the Terriers to make 26.7 percent of their 3-point shots (4-of-15). Also, the Catamounts held a 42-29 rebounding edge over the Terriers, including a 24-14 margin in the second half as Western Carolina grabbed nine offensive boards over the final 20 minutes.

Wofford was down by as many as 12 points in the first half before closing the period with a 12-4 run to trail just 42-38 at the intermission. Western Carolina built its lead back to eight points before a 12-2 Terrier run over a 2:32 stretch gave Wofford a 54-52 lead with 14:39 remaining.

Alex Osipovitch hit a pair of free-throws to tie the game at 54-54 before freshman guard Kyle Greathouse hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a 21-second span to give the Catamounts the lead for good at 60-54 with 12:31 remaining.

Greg Taylor, who scored a season-high 12 points, hit a jumper to pull Wofford within 60-56 but that would be as close as the Terriers would get the remainder of the contest. Wofford cut the deficit to five points on four occasions before Western Carolina pulled away down the stretch.

"This was our most complete game of the season," Catamount coach Steve Shurina said. "Everyone stepped up at different times which makes this a great team win.

"We had too many turnovers coming in, but tonight we had more assists (16) than turnovers (14) against a team that among the best in the league in forcing turnovers. We had good depth and rotated our players well. They played an overtime game Saturday so we hoped we would be more fresh at the end."

Adrien Borders topped Wofford with 18 points while Tyler Berg scored a season-high 15.

"We got crossed up on our defense when Greathouse hit the 3-pointer that broke the tie," Wofford coach Mike Young said. "We did a poor job of handling the ball and did not accomplish our goal of holding Martin under his average (27.0 points entering the contest).

Martin was 10-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-8 on 3-pointers. He was 9-of-11 at the free-throw line. David Berghoefer added 17 points, making 7-of-9 shots from the field, and seven rebounds. Osipovitch and Corey Muirhead also reached double figures for the Cats with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Lunzaya Nlandu was solid for the second consecutive game, getting eight points and eight rebounds.

Western Carolina will return to action Wednesday when they host Averett. Tip off at the Ramsey Activity Center is set for 7 p.m., in what will be WCU final home game of 2003. The Catamounts, who play at Arkansas Dec. 22 and at a Montana State Tournament Dec. 29-30, will return to the RAC on Jan. 3, 2004 versus North Greenville.