Box Score Jan. 22, 2005
Final Stats
Cullowhee, N.C. -
Western Carolina got career highs from Trey Hopkins (17 points) and Lunzaya Nlandu (14 points), while Antonio Russell chipped in 17 as well, to lead the Catamounts to an 80-75 victory over Wofford Saturday night at the Ramsey Activity Center. Western improves to 6-14 on the season and 1-6 in the Southern Conference, while Wofford falls to 8-9, 1-5.
Nlandu, a senior, was 6-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 at the free throw line in scoring his career-high 14 points. His previous best was scoring 13 in 2001 when he was a freshman at Boston University. His previous best versus a SoCon opponent was eight, which he accomplished last season at Wofford.
Western, who led 42-29 at the break, built a 17-point lead (54-37) six and a half minutes into the second half after a Hopkins 3-pointer. However, the Terriers made afree throw and three consecutive 3-pointers to trim its deficit to nine (56-47) at the 11:53 mark. Western's Kyle Greathouse drained a 3-pointer to build the Cats' lead back to 10 (61-51) with 9:22 left. That would be WCU's last double-digit lead of the half as Wofford's Greg Taylor immediately answered with a trey, making the score 61-54.
The Terriers then got a 3-pointer from Eric Marshall and Tyler Berg converted an old-fashion 3-point play to cut Wofford's deficit to four (65-61) with 7:52 left. Nlandu looked to stop Wofford's momentum with a layup, but the Terriers got two free throws from Byron Fields and a layup from Adrien Borders, making it a two-point game (67-65) with 5:54 remaining.
The Cats got back on track thanks to a Russell 3-pointer, a Nlandu 3-point play and a David Berghoefer layup, giving Western an eight-point lead (75-67) with 2:15 left. Wofford worked its deficit back down to two (76-74) with just over a minute to play, thanks largely to a Taylor trey. Hopkins sank a pair of free throws with 47 second left and Russell went 1-of-2 at the line with 24 second to play to essentially seal the game. Wofford and Western traded free throws over the final 14 seconds to provide the final five-point (80-75) margin.
In the first half, Wofford scored the first six points of the game only to have Western come back with eight unanswered points. The lead went back and forth over the next six minutes with the Terriers taking a 16-15 lead with 12:20 left before the break. Western's Berghoefer came off the bench, sank his first attempt of the night to put his team up one (17-16) and the Catamounts would not surrender the lead the remainder of the game.
Berghoefer, who was doubtful coming into the game with a back injury, scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in 15 minutes of play. Greathouse scored six points and led the Catamounts in rebounding with a career-high seven.
The Terriers had five players score in double figures. Marshall and Taylor led the way with 14 points, followed by Berg (11), Sam Daniels (10) and Borders (10). Berg added seven rebounds, while Taylor grabbed six.
Western Carolina will have six days off, returning to action next Saturday (Jan. 29) versus Elon. Tip-off is set for 7 pm.
