Feb. 4, 2005

Final Stats

Charleston, S.C. - Dontaye Draper scored a game-high 22 points and connected on three 3-pointers late in the game to lift the College of Charleston to a 77-68 win over Western Carolina before 3,381 at John Kresse Arena and a regional C-SET television audience on Thursday. With the win, Charleston's 11th in a row at home, the Cougars improved to 14-6 overall and 7-3 in league play. The Catamounts fell to 7-16 and 2-8.

Draper's 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:54 left gave Charleston a 65-64 lead, his next 3-pointer with 3:15 left gave the Cougars a 68-65 lead, and his final 3-pointer came from the top of the key with 45 seconds remaining and with the shot clock winding down that gave Charleston a 73-67 advantage.

The Cougars, up eight (42-34) at halftime, raced out to a 14-point lead to start the second half, spurring a Catamount timeout. Western came out the timeout with a Trey Hopkins 3-pointer that started a 14-2 WCU run, making the score 50-48 in Charleston's favor with 12:01 left. During the run, Antonio Russell scored seven points and Hopkins chipped in five.

Charleston tired to pull away on several occasions over the next five minutes, but the Cats' kept battling back, tying the game at 58-58 on an Eric Wilson jumper with 7:11 remaining. Then, Western took is final lead of the game (64-62) on a David Berghoefer tip-in at the 5:06 mark. Berghoefer additionally tied the game at 65 with 3:31 left after making 1-of-2 at the charity stripe. Thirty seconds later, Draper hit the second of his late three 3-pointers to key the Cougars' victory. Drew Hill and Jeff Horowitz each drained a pair of free throws inside the final 20 seconds to provide the final nine-point margin.

In the first half, Russell single-handedly kept the Catamounts in the game. After Lunzaya Nlandu hit a free throw for WCU's first point of the game, Russell sank five consecutive baskets. Also in the first half, which featured five ties and eight lead changes, no team led by more than four points until the Cougars went on a 10-0 run with 5:39 left before the break. Three-pointers by Hopkins and Wilson, as well as a late Rans Brempong layup, got the Cats' deficit to single digits.

Both teams made 26 field goals, but Charleston had nine 3-pointers, compared to four by WCU and the Cats, who out-rebounded the Cougars (40-38) had 22 turnovers compared to just 16 by CofC.

Tony Mitchell, the SoCon leader in 3-pointer made and league's fourth-leading scorer, scored nine first half points, but only made one shot in the second half thanks to excellent defense by WCU's Wilson. Draper added four assists and three steals, while Bernard Jackson scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench.

The Catamounts got 17 points Russell, one point shy of his career high, and the freshman added eight rebounds. Berghoefer registered his sixth double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Hopkins added 11 points and a team-high five assists for WCU. In addition to his solid defense, Wilson played a season-high 19 minutes and scored a season-high seven points.

Western Carolina will return to action on Monday (Feb. 7) for its annual "Beach Night at the RAC." The Lady Cats will first host East Tennessee State at 5 pm, with the men hosting Appalachian State at approximately 7:30 pm.