Jan. 24, 2004

Final Stats

Chattanooga, Tenn. - Kevin Martin, the nation's leading scorer, had 27 points for Western Carolina, but Chattanooga's Chris Brown set career highs with 31 points, seven three-pointers and seven assists Saturday to lead the Mocs to a 109-79 victory over the Catamounts at the McKenzie Arena.

Brown drained four three-pointers in the first five minutes of the game. His fourth at the 15:02 mark gave UTC a 26-9 lead. He was 5-for-6 from the field in the first half with 16 points and ended the night making 11-of-16 field goal tries, 7-of-9 three-point attempts and both free throw tosses.

While Martin hit his average with a team-best 27 points, he was 9-for-23 from the floor, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range. The junior also sank 6-of-7 free throws and led the Cats with four rebounds.

A desperation 30-foot heave at the halftime buzzer by Martin swished the net and cut UTC's lead to just four (51-47) at the half.

The Mocs, 11-7, 4-3 SoCon, used a 14-4 spree midway through the second half to bump the margin to 18, 77-59. UTC outscored the Cats (9-8, 3-4) 18-7 from 9:07 of the second half to 4:01 to increase the lead to 97-71. Casey Long's three-pointer with 3:19 to play put the Mocs at 100 points.

Rogan was 10-for-14 from the floor for 25 points. Ashley Champion added 11 points with eight rebounds for the Mocs, and Mindaugas Katelynas made all five shot attempts for 10 points.

The Mocs, who had 15 offensive rebounds, out-rebounded the Cats 37-15 and shot 60.9 percent from the floor. WCU also shot the ball well, connecting on 53.8 percent of its field goal tries, but was just 6-of-13 from 3-point range, compared to 14-of-25 from beyond the arc by the Mocs.

David Berghoefer and Emre Atsur each scored 14 points for the Cats. It marked the thrid consecutive game Atsur had reached double figures in scoring. He added a career-high six assists. Jared Outing contributed 11 points coming off the bench.

Western Carolina begins a four-game homestand Monday (Jan. 26)with The Citadel. Other games during the homestand include SoCon leader East Tennessee (Jan. 31), Piedmont (Feb. 2) and Chattanooga (Feb. 7). All four games are set to begin at 7 pm.