Feb. 14, 2009

Box Score |  Notes |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Red-shirt freshman Harouna Mutombo led all scorers with a game-high 28 points and his countryman Keaton Cole added a career-best 15 as Western Carolina snapped a 10-game slide to its arch-rival, upending Appalachian State, 89-84, Saturday night in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center.

Western Carolina's defense forced an opponent season-high 28 turnovers, including 18 steals - WCU's most against a Division-I foe this season - as the Catamounts also halted a seasonal two-game losing skid. The Catamounts sealed the win by making 24 of their 32 free throw attempts - both season highs.

With the win, Western seizes control of second place in the SoCon's North Division with a league record of 8-7. Chattanooga, which held off sixth-place UNC Greensboro at home on Saturday night, leads the division with a mark of 10-6. Samford, which edged fifth-place Elon in Birmingham, is third at 8-9 while the Mountaineers fall fourth with a 7-9 ledger.

Looking for a shake-up and a quicker start from his starting rotation, WCU head coach Larry Hunter inserted the rookie Cole into the starting five. The Toronto, Ontario, native responded with career-highs in scoring (15), steals (4) and minutes played (37).

"(Keaton Cole) is a lot like (junior) Jake Robinson," said Hunter. "He is a deadly open shooter. He has great range, and guys have a lot of confidence in him. I think you saw, they made the extra pass to him a number of different times."

A native of Pickering, Ontario, Mutombo's 20-point scoring output was his fifth of the season and second in as many games. He added a game-high seven rebounds and a career-high three blocked shots.

"It was a big game," Mutombo said. "We didn't want to lose our standing in the North Division, and we didn't want to lose at home. We came into this game thinking we had to win. We don't want anybody to come into our house and beat us, especially App."

A third first-year player, freshman Greg Avery, added 11 points off the bench including seven from the free throw line. Junior Brigham Waginger was a fourth Catamount in double figures, finishing with 12 points, four assists and four steals which moved him two spots in WCU's career record books. The South Webster, Ohio, native has 172 career thefts which move him into sole possession of third place, by-passing Quinton Lytle (169, 1982-85) and Casey Rogers (170, 1999-2002).

Junior Brandon Giles and sophomore Richie Gordon also just missed double digits, finishing with nine and eight points, respectively. Giles stands 44 points shy of 1,000 for his WCU career.

For Appalachian State (10-14, 7-9 SoCon) Donald Sims led the way with 19 points despite being saddled with early foul trouble that limited his court time in the opening 20 minutes. He scored 15 of his points in the second half. Kellen Brand, who scored a career-high 31 in the first meeting in Boone, scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half. Three Mountaineers - Isaac Butts, Josh Hunter and A.J. Highsmith - all finished with nine points apiece in the loss.

Saturday's game only saw two lead changes, with Western only trailing once by one point midway through the first half, and three ties.

With Western Carolina leading by six at halftime, 45-39, the Catamounts put together a 12-to-4 scoring spurt midway through the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 14, 62-48, with 10 minutes to play in regulation. The run was capped by four-straight points by Avery, including a steal and pull-up jumper to provide the 14-point margin.

ASU would not go away, though, as the Mountaineers trimmed the gap back to four, 63-59, with an 11-to-1 run over the next two minutes. Western managed to balloon its lead back into double-digits by outscoring Appalachian, 11-3, over the next four minutes.

The Apps were able to close to within three points inside the final 10 seconds on a long Sims 3-pointer, but the Catamounts made nine of their final 10 free throws to ice the victory. WCU, which owns the conference's poorest free throw shooting percentage, connected on 75-percent (24-of-32) from the charity stripe, including 83-percent (19-of-23) in the second half.

Western Carolina hits the road for three-consecutive road games, including back-to-back contests in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina in North Division play. The Catamounts visit Elon on Thursday (Feb. 19) at 7:00 pm before visiting UNC Greensboro on Saturday (Feb. 21) at 3:00 pm. WCU wraps up its three-game road swing at Wofford on Monday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 pm.