Jan. 29, 2005

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Junior center David Berghoefer had a double-double in the first half and finished with 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds as Western Carolina was able to hold off Elon, 71-67, despite a frantic finish by the Phoenix Saturday night at the Ramsey Activity Center.

Western Carolina (7-14, 2-6 Southern Conference) led by 12 (65-53) with 5:29 left in the game. However, Elon out-scored the Catamounts 9-1 over the next four minutes to trim its deficit to four (66-62) with 1:05 remaining. Then Western's Kyle Greathouse, who scored 18 points on the night, drained two free throws to give the Cats some breathing room. Phoenix guard Scottie Rice, who scored a game-high 29 points, immediately answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make the score 68-65 with 53 seconds left.

Elon (2-19, 0-8 SoCon) quickly fouled Antonio Russell, who only sank 1-of-2 from the free throw line to make the score 69-65 with 44 seconds left. Elon's Simon Harris tipped in an offensive rebound, which fell for two points, cutting the Phoenix deficit to two (69-67) with 22 seconds remaining. Negus McKenna was fouled and the freshman only made one of his two free throws. On Elon's ensuing possession, Rice was whistled for a charging foul, giving WCU the ball with nine ticks on the clock. Greathouse was fouled and he only made 1-of-2 at the line, making the score 71-67. Elon had one desperation 3-pointer come up empty as time expired to provide the final margin.

Western won despite losing several key statistical categories. The Cats were out-rebounded 42-39, were only 20-of-39 at the free throw line and committed 23 turnovers. Elon was held to 36.5 percent shooting from the field and was only 14-of-22 at the charity stripe.

"This was a good win because we won and did not play our best game," said WCU head coach Steve Shurina. "If we had shot better from the free throw line, we would have had a bigger cushion down the stretch. But give Elon credit, every time we extended our lead, they battled back.

"David Berghoefer was a monster most of the night. He carried us. Kyle Greathouse made some huge 3-pointers and Trey Hopkins did a nice job of leading."

In the first half, Elon led most of the way, taking a six-point advantage (29-23) with 2:22 left before the break. However, Berghoefer scored six of WCU's final 10 points of the half, including a tip-in with 0.2 seconds left to give Western a 33-29 lead at intermission.

Berghoefer was 8-of-16 from the field and just 6-of-16 from the free throw line in scoring his 22 points. He grabbed eight rebounds on both ends of the court to tie his career high of 16 boards. Greathouse was 5-of-6 from 3-point range in scoring his 22 points, while adding five rebounds in 39 minutes of play. Hopkins, who scored 11 points, established a career high with eight assists while getting four steals and only committing one turnover.

For the Phoenix, Rice came off the bench to score his game-high 29 points by sinking 8-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, and making 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Brian Waters added 10 points, while Le'Vonn Jordan had eight rebounds.

Western Carolina will return to action Monday (Jan. 31) at Furman. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm.