Nov. 22, 2005

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina sophomores Antonio Russell and Eric Wilson each had career highs to lead the Catamounts to 110-51 victory over Atlanta Christian (1-9) Tuesday night at the Ramsey Activity Center. Russell, who has led the Cats in five of their six games this season, scored a career-high 22 points, while Wilson, whose previous career highs were seven points and eight rebounds, posted his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The Catamounts (2-4) additionally improve to 101-3 all-time when scoring 100 points in a game.

Western scored the first nine points of the game, including five points by Wilson, and would lead by as many as 11 early. Atlanta Christian would battle back on the strength on 3-pointers by Will De la Cruz, Jermaine Barnes and an old-fashion 3-point play by Glen Lamb to cut the Chargers' deficit to six with 11:33 left in the first period. However, the Catamounts responded with a 13-3 run to boost their advantage to 17 (30-13) and never looked back. A Jared Outing 3-pointer with 45 seconds gave Western its largest lead of the half (21 points) but the Chargers' Jordan Poole made a layup with 21 seconds left to provide the halftime score of 41-22.

Charles Bouie, who came off the bench to provide a spark with a career-high 11 points on the night, sparked an early second-half run which pushed Western's lead to 30 points. Western then out-scored Atlanta Christian 29-7 midway through the final 20 minutes to take a 94-42 lead with 6:27 remaining in the contest. The Catamount broke the century mark for the first time this season and the 104th time in school history when Outing made a jumper with 2:58 left. An old-fashion 3-point play by Wilson with 1:42 left gave the Cats their largest lead of the night (63 points) with 1:42 remaining.

Freshman Stan Johnson, getting his first career start, also had his first game in double digits scoring with 10 points, making 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Negus McKenna, getting his first start of the season, scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds. Junior Kyle Greathouse contributed 14 points, making 4-of-6 from the field, with six assists. Greathouse additionally sank 2-of-4 from 3-point range to move into a tie for eighth on the WCU all-time list with 99, equaling the career total of Joe Stafford. David Berghoefer and Corey Muirhead also provided a lift off the bench. Berghoefer scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Muirhead had nine rebounds and three steals.

For the Chargers, Barnes led the way with 19 points and six rebounds. Atlanta Christian only shot 29.1 percent from the floor, leading to the Catamounts out-rebounding ACC 50-26.

Western Carolina will return to action this Saturday (Nov. 26) at High Point with tipoff set for 7:00 pm. The Catamounts will return home on Nov. 28 to host Toccoa Falls at 7:00 pm. At halftime of the game, Western will have a ceremony to honor Catamount Ronnie Carr making the first 3-pointer in NCAA history, which occurred 25 years ago on Nov. 29, 1980.