Jan. 28, 2010

Box Score

Chattanooga, Tenn. - Mike Williams led Western Carolina with a game-high 20 points but it was not enough as Chattanooga put four in double figures, and outscored the Catamounts by 20 in the second half to run past WCU, 80-67, in Southern Conference action Thursday night at the McKenzie Arena.

Ty Patterson scored 19 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Chattanooga, hitting four 3-pointers and the Mocs (12-10, 4-5 SoCon) shot 53.6 percent from the field (15-for-28) in the second half to snap their four-game losing streak.

"From my perspective, that was one of our worst performances in the second half. We did not hang on to the ball. We bobbled it and did not catch it. If you are looking at it from our perspective, we did not help ourselves," said WCU head coach Larry Hunter. "I could not find a combination out there that would give us a spark or extend the tie. It was a great effort by Chattanooga - they earned the ballgame in the second half. They out worked, out hustled and out competed us in the second half."

Western Carolina (16-5, 6-3 SoCon), which built a 10-point lead in the first half, led 36-21 at halftime and again at 57-55 on a pair of free throws by Williams with 8:03 remaining. But Chattanooga's Keegan Bell nailed a 3-pointer for a 58-57 lead and the Mocs never trailed again.

Patterson hit a 3-pointer to give the Mocs a 72-63 lead with 3:51 left and another trey from Patterson built Chattanooga's lead to 10, 75-65, with 2:29 to play.

Ridge McKeither scored 15, Ricky Taylor had 12 and Bell added 10 points and six assists for the Mocs which won their third-straight over WCU at home.

The loss coupled with Appalachian State's road win over Samford moved the Catamounts and archrival Mountaineers into a tie atop the North Division at 6-3 in the league standings. WCU also lost for the first time this season after leading at halftime (15-1).

Brigham Waginger joined Williams in double figures with 12 points on four 3-pointers while Brandon Giles scored 10 points and dished out three assists. Richie Gordon just missed double digits with eight points while Harouna Mutombo scored six, boarded a team-best eight and passed out three assists.

Western Carolina concludes its two-game road swing on Saturday afternoon at Samford. Tip-off from the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala., is set for 2:00 pm CT / 3:00 pm ET. The game will be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network with a 1:30 pm CT / 2:30 pm ET air time. Fans can follow the action locally on 680 AM WRGC in Sylva and 920 AM WPTL in Canton, with live streaming audio online through Stretch Internet at CatamountSports.com.