Jan. 31, 2004

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - East Tennessee State guard Tim Smith and James Anthony each scored 23 points as the league-leading Buccaneers (17-4, 9-0 SoCon) held on for a 79-65 victory over Western Carolina (10-9, 4-5 SoCon) Saturday night at the Ramsey Activity Center before WCU's largest home crowd of the season (3,456).

The Bucs' 9-0 start is their best ever in SoCon play. Also, Anthony had career highs with his 23 points and five 3-pointers made, while Smith had four steals and handed out eight of ETSU's 15 assists on the evening.

In the first half, ETSU did hold a brief 12-point lead. Although, through a majority of the first 26 minutes, the Bucs' lead was 10 points or less. At the 13:53 mark of the second half, an Anthony 3-pointer put ETSU up 11 (47-36). Western answered with a 3-pointer by Emre Atsur only to have Anthony sink another trey, sparking a 9-3 run and giving the Bucs a 14-point lead (56-42) with 11:49 left.

Western made a run at East Tennessee State at the eight minute mark. Down 12 (62-50), Alex Osipovitch hit a short jumper, Jared Outing made a turnaround jumper and Kevin Martin had a dunk to trim the WCU deficit to six (62-56) with 6:34 left. The Bucs rallied to push its advantage back to double-digits and held that lead from the 5:13 mark until the 3:09 mark. Martin had back-to-back dunks, cutting WCU deficits to eight twice - the last coming with 1:43 left in the game (73-65). ETSU sank four free throws and got Jerald Fields layup, while holding Western scoreless over the final 1:30 to hold on for the 14-point win (79-65).

Jared Outing was 4-of-4 from the field in scoring nine points versus ETSU.

For the game, ETSU shot 52.6 percent from the field and, versus the league best 3-point field goal defense, shot 46.7 percent beyond the arc (7-of-15). For Western's part, the Cats shot 49 percent from the field and out-rebounded ETSU (30-27), but WCU committed 24 turnovers to the Bucs' 16.

Other than the 23 points by Smith and Anthony, ETSU was led by Zakee Wadood and Jerald Fields with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Wadood added seven rebounds, while Rhoda contributed four steals.

For the Catamounts, Martin and Atsur each scored 14 points with David Berghoefer adding 10 points. Martin, who had three steals, just missed his second career double-double, pulling down a game- and season-high nine rebounds. Outing, who had five rebounds, was solid off the bench for the Catamounts, scoring nine points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. Osipovitch was 4-of-6 from the field, scoring nine points off the bench, and Corey Muirhead sank two 3-pointers in scoring nine.

Western Carolina will step out of league play on Monday (Feb. 2) to host Piedmont. Tip-off at the Ramsey Center is set for 7 pm.