Jan. 30, 2007

Final Stats |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina scored six of its last nine points from the free throw line in overtime to outlast Wofford College, 77-74, Monday night at the Ramsey Center. With the win, Western Carolina breaks a four-game skid and improves to 8-13, and 5-5 in Southern Conference action, while Wofford falls to 6-14, 1-9 in league play.

Playing with a taped left elbow, freshman Nick Aldridge scored a team-high 22 points and his classmate, Jake Robinson, matched his career-high with 20 points, including five 3-pointers, to give the Catamounts their second win of the season over the Terriers. Robinson, a native of Canton, also established a career-best with eight rebounds and drained a pair of clutch shots late in the game.

Playing with four freshmen on the floor down the stretch, Robinson nailed a 23-foot, 3-pointer with 1:45 showing on the regulation clock to snap the sixth tie of the second stanza, giving WCU a three-point lead, 68-65. On the other end of the court, Wofford junior guard Shane Nichols hit a three with 24 seconds showing to eventually send the contest into overtime.

Robinson came up big again in the extra session, hitting another long-range trey with 33 seconds remaining in OT, pushing the Catamounts' lead to five, 76-71. However, Nichols again answered on the ensuing possession, canning a three to bring the Terriers within two, 76-74, with 18 seconds to play. Four seconds later, Robinson was fouled on the inbounds play and hit 1-of-2 free throws, which proved to be enough as Nichols missed a three as time expired in the game.

A third freshman, Brigham Waginger, also had a career-night for the purple and gold. Starting at the point for injured teammate Kyle Greathouse, Waginger set career highs with seven assists, seven steals, seven boards and only committed one turnover in just under 40 minutes of court time.

Trailing by 10 with 14:32 remaining in the second half, Western went on a 12-to-2 run over the next 3:36 to tie the game at 51. With 5:02 remaining in the contest, Waginger swiped a key steal to start the fast break and made a behind-the-back pass to classmate Brandon Giles for the dunk to put Western up by four, 61-57, forcing Wofford to use a 30 second timeout. After the stoppage, the Catamounts extended their lead to six before the Terriers battled back to tie the game at 65 before Robinson hit the go-ahead three setting up OT.

Wofford also put three in double-figures as Nichols scored a game-high 23 points, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. Freshman Junior Salters added 18 points off four treys, while Drew Gibson scored a dozen with nine rebounds and dished out a team-best six assists.

The Catamounts are back in action this Saturday (Feb. 3) afternoon as the team travels to Charleston, S.C., for the first of two games in the Lowcountry. Western faces The Citadel at 1:00 pm on Saturday, and visits the College of Charleston on Monday night. Both games will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network and can be heard in Western North Carolina on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee or on-line at www.WWCUFM.com.