Feb 10, 2003

Box Score

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - A career game from Emre Atsur and Kevin Martin reaching a milestone were not enough to offset a 30-point, nine-rebound performance by Jerald Fields as East Tennessee State pulled away in the second half for an 89-71 victory Monday night at the Memorial Center.

Atsur, a junior from Istanbul, Turkey, scored 20 points, hitting 6-of-7 from 3-point range and 7-of-9 overall, which was six points more than his previous best.

Martin, who led WCU with 21 points, became the 33rd player in WCU history to score 1,000 career points. He and WCU's all-time leading scorer Henry Logan are the only two Catamounts to accomplish the feat in their sophomore seasons. The Zanesville, Ohio, native scored the first points of the game to get his total to 999, then drained a 3-pointer with 18:05 remaining in the first half to go over the plateau. With his 21 points tonight, he has 1,018 for his 46 game career.

Western Carolina led by as many as eight in the first half, but East Tennessee State used a late run to go into the break with a 44-36 lead. The Bucs closed the half with three straight 3-pointers, while the Catamounts only scored one point over the final 2:39. ETSU was also able to dominate on the glass to get its lead, pulling down 17 rebounds to WCU's nine.

The Bucs made several runs through the first seven minutes of the second half, but Western was able to keep it close. However a technical foul called on Atsur led to two made free throws and a Zakee Wadood 3-point to give ETSU a 13-point lead, 60-47, with 13:43 left. Kori Hatcher answered with a trey of his own and Martin added two free throws to cut Western's deficit to eight (60-52) with 13:09. Two minutes later, Terrence Woodyard converted a layup on an inbounds play to put the Cats down nine, 64-55, with 11:03 left. That is as close as Western would get the remainder of the game as Fields, Tim Smith and James Anthony led the way for East Tennessee.

Smith finished with 21 points, while Anthony added 11. Ben Rhoda scored 14 and grabbed six rebounds.

Hatcher joined Martin and Atsur in scoring double figures for WCU. The senior had 11 points with six assists and a career-high four steals.

Western Carolina will continue its three-game road swing with a game at VMI on Saturday. The game is set to begin at 2 pm at Cameron Hall and will be telecast throughout the region on Fox Sports Net South as part of the SoCon's game of the week. The Catamounts will end the road swing on Monday, facing the College of Charleston. That game will start at 7 pm. Fans whose cable system is Charter/Comcast will be able to view the contest on CSS-TV (Charter/Comcast Sports South TV).