Jan. 13, 2004

Final Stats

Davidson, N.C. - Despite 36 points from WCU All-America candidate Kevin Martin, Davidson improved to 7-0 at home with a 76-62 victory over the Catamounts in Southern Conference action on Tuesday night. Davidson dominated the boards, 44-28, to improve to 2-2 in the league and 7-8 overall. The Catamounts fall to 8-6 this season, 2-2 in the SoCon.

Brendan Winters scored a team-high 17 points, all in the second half, and Conor Grace tallied his first double-double of the season, netting 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats.

Martin, who regained his spot as the nation's top scorer, dumped in 36 of the Catamounts' 62 points but was forced to take a career-high 27 shots to do so. Overall, he made 12 of WCU's 20 field goals and took 27 of WCU's 54 shots. He was also 10-of-10 at the line and had three steals.

Martin scored nine of the first 11 Western points to give the Catamounts an 11-6 advantage to open the game. A Matt McKillop three-pointer ignited a 13-7 run that gave the Wildcats a 19-18 lead at the 8:03 mark, an advantage they would never relinquish.

Davidson would get nailed with fouls on several key players and were forced to play the final eight minutes of the half without two of its top three leading scorers in Winters and junior Logan Kosmalski. The Wildcats' reserves stepped up to the challenge, however, outscoring WCU 19-10 in those minutes to take a 38-28 lead at the break.

Davidson shot 48 percent in the first half and remained strong in the final 20 minutes. Davidson opened the half on a 16-5 run, capped by the third of three Nick Booker dunks, to build a 19-point advantage. Western would manage to cut the lead to as little as eight, but the Wildcats scored six unanswered points and rolled to the 76-62 victory.

Kosmalski scored 12 points on 4-of-5 from the field in 17 minutes of action. Booker had a strong all-around game, coming up with eight points, six rebounds and a block.

Martin moved up two spots to ninth on the WCU career scoring list, passing Frankie King and Danny Tharpe with 1,521 career points. In addition to Martin's 36 points, Corey Muirhead added 10.

Western returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 17, facing SoCon North Division-leader East Tennessee State at 4 p.m.