Nov. 20, 2004

Final Stats

Tuscaloosa, Ala. - The 18th-ranked University of Alabama men's basketball team (1-0) opened the 2004-05 season with a 97-66 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts (0-4) Friday night at Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide, who had four returning starters back from its NCAA Elite Eight team from last season, improves to 76-16 all-time in season openers.

Kennedy Winston led a quartet of Bama players in double figures with 24 points. Earnest Shelton and Chuck Davis picked up where they left off from last season with each scoring 16 points. Jean Felix scored 11 in his debut for the Tide. Felix wowed the crowd of 8,891 fans with a thunderous dunk to cap a 14-2 run that put the Tide on top for good midway through the first half.

Western battled the Tide early, with the Cats trailing by just nine (22-13) with 11;46 left in the first half before Felix hit a layup and 3-pointer to distance the teams for good.

Another notable debut for Alabama was true freshman point guard Ronald Steele. Steele became just the third true freshman to start an opening game for the Tide and although he scored only three points, he dished out seven assists and did not commit any turnovers in 28 minutes of play.

As a team, UA scorched the nets in the first half, shooting 58.6 percent from the field to jump out to a 21 point halftime advantage. Alabama also out rebounded the Catamounts 46 to 36 for the game and took advantage of Carolina mistakes, outscoring WCU 22-6 off of turnovers. Also, Alabama sank 21-of-33 free throws for the game, while Western was just 1-of-7 at the charity stripe.

David Berghoefer led WCU offensively with 23 points (11-of-20 shooting from the field) and seven rebounds. Also contributing for the Catamounts were Rans Brempong, who scored 11 points, and Corey Muirhead, who chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Greathouse dished out eight assists with just one turnover.

Western Carolina will return to action Sunday (Nov. 21) at South Carolina. Tipoff was moved some time ago, with the new start time being 2 pm in Columbia. The game can be heard on the Catamount Sports Network, including online on WCU's campus station at www.wwcufm.com. The game will also be available on GameTracker.