Feb. 26, 2005

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - UNC Greensboro freshman Kyle Hines recorded his Southern Conference leading 11th double-double (20 points and 12 rebounds) to lead his Spartans (16-11, 8-8 SoCon) to a 79-76 come-from-behind victory over Western Carolina (8-21, 3-13) Saturday night at the Ramsey Activity Center.

With the win, UNC Greensboro secures the second seed in the SoCon North and will have a first-round bye in the 2005 Southern Conference Championship. Western Carolina will be the sixth seed and face Georgia Southern in the first round on Wednesday (Mar. 2) at 2:30 in Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena.

Down 10 with 5:10 left to play, UNC Greensboro went on an 18-5 run to close the contest and secure the victory. The key play during the stretch was a steal and a lay-up by Ricky Hickman. He was intentionally fouled on the play and converted 1-of-2 at the line. The Spartans retained possession and Hickman drained a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 74-74 with 2:05 left.

After a Catamount miss, Hickman assisted on a Ronnie Burrell lay-up, putting the Spartans up two with 1:15 left. The Cats then committed a turnover and Hines sank a pair of free throws to make the score 78-74 with 17 seconds left. A final miss by WCU led to Hickman making 1-of-2 free throws to secure the victory. Western's Trey Hopkins made a lay-up with three seconds left to provide the final, 79-76.

Trailing by one at the 11:13 mark, Western went on a 17-6 run, including seven points from Negus McKenna, over the next five minutes to take a 10-point lead. McKenna finished with a game-high 21 points, which was a career high as well.

After trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, Western trimmed its deficit to one (18-17) with 9:38 left before the break. The Catamounts tied the game at 36 on a Terrence Woodyard 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining in the period and even took a one-point lead (38-37) on a McKenna lay-up. However, Josh Gross had a dunk with four seconds on the clock to give UNCG a 39-38 lead at intermission.

In addition to Hines' 20 points, the Spartans were led by Hickman (19 points), Burrell (15 points) and Gross (12 points). Burrell added nine rebounds. Hines additionally had three blocked shots, giving him 96 for the season to become the SoCon freshman leader in single-season blocked shots. Ironically, he passes WCU's Rans Brempong, who had 93 rejections during his freshman season.

For the Cats, McKenna added a career-high six rebounds to go along with his career-high 21 points. David Berghoefer had his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Brempong had 13 points and nine boards, while Hopkins had 13 points and tied a career high with eight assists.