Feb. 15, 2010

Box Score

Greensboro, N.C. - Brandon Giles scored 12 of his team-high 20 points in the first half while Richie Gordon scored all 11 of his points after the break as Western Carolina held off the UNC Greensboro Spartans, 75-70, Monday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.

WCU's win completed the regular season sweep of the Spartans for the second-straight year, while also snapping the Catamounts' three-game losing skid.

Western Carolina (19-8, 9-6 SoCon) took a game-high, 13-point lead with five minutes remaining in regulation as Keaton Cole drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to put the Catamounts ahead, 68-55. However, the Spartans scored eight-straight points to trim the deficit to five, 68-63, with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Continuing to make shots, UNC Greensboro was able to close to within four points twice inside the final minute, but the Catamounts made five of its 11 free throw attempts in the closing moments to secure the victory.

After only shooting 28.6-percent (8-of-28) in the first half, UNCG managed 56-percent (18-of-32) from the field after the break to keep the game close through the final 20 minutes.

In addition to his game-high tying 20 points, Giles added seven rebounds while Gordon boarded five misses in addition to his 11 points. Both Kendall Russell and Harouna Mutombo just missed double-double outings as Russell scored nine with nine rebounds while Mutombo pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to accompany his eight points.

Senior Jake Robinson scored eight with one 3-pointer in the win, while classmate Brigham Waginger scored eight while passing out five assists and recording three steals in the win.

Kyle Randall paced four Spartans - who dropped their fourth-straight games - in double figures with a game-high tying 20 points, 18 of which came after intermission. Mikko Koivisto scored 13 while Ben Stywall finished with 12 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort. Kendall Toney scored eight of his 11 points in the opening 20 minutes for UNCG (5-20, 4-10).

Western Carolina twice built double-digit leads in the first half, first using a 15-to-3 run, capped by a Waginger trey, to erase a one-point deficit to take an 11-point, 19-8, edge at the 12 minute mark. With UNCG back within five, 20-15, Giles scored back-to-back buckets to stretch the Catamount edge back to double digits at 10, 25-15, before taking a six-point, 29-23, edge into the halftime locker room.

WCU earned a 22-to-14 edge in second chance points thanks to a 45-to-43 rebounding advantage including 22 offensive rebounds. The Catamount bench also recorded a 24-to-9 edge in scoring in the win.

Western Carolina continues its current three-game road swing on Thursday as it travels to Charleston, S.C., to face The Citadel in the lone regular season meeting between the two squads. The Bulldogs have won two-straight in the head-to-head series, sweeping last year's meetings and have won consecutive games - and seven of the last eight - in Charleston.

Tip-off from the McAlister Fieldhouse on Thursday night is set for 7:05 pm.

Post-Game Notes:
- Western Carolina won its 19th game on the season, matching the most wins in a single-season as a NCAA Division I program ... the 19 wins tie the 1981-82 Catamounts who won 19 games under head coach Steve Cottrell ... the 19 victories are the most for WCU under head coach Larry Hunter;

- WCU also claimed its ninth SoCon win of the season marking the fifth-time a Catamount squad has reached the nine-win plateau;

- Western Carolina (9-6) remains a game and a half behind North Division leader, Appalachian State (10-4), but holds a three and a half game lead over third-place Chattanooga (5-9) in the division standings;

- Western Carolina improved to 6-3 in games played in the Greensboro Coliseum since 1996 with eight of the nine games coming in the SoCon tournament ... WCU was 3-0 in 1996; 0-1 in 1997; 0-1 in 1998; 2-1 in 1999 and 1-0 in 2008 ... the Catamounts evened the series at 1-1 in games played at the Greensboro Coliseum;

- The Catamounts earned their fourth-straight win over UNC Greensboro marking the longest consecutive winning streak for WCU over the Spartans ... WCU had twice posted three-straight wins in the series ... the four-game streak is the longest for either side in the head-to-head series;

- Senior Brandon Giles posted his fifth-straight, double-digit scoring outing with a team-best 20 points in the win over UNCG ... Giles had 12 points before halftime ... With 1,356 career points, Giles moved into 17th on Western Carolina's all-time, supplanting Bubba Smith who scored 1,350 points from 1975-78;

- Red-shirt sophomore Harouna Mutombo posted his second double-digit rebounding performance of the season, matching his season-high with 10 rebounds ... Mutombo has WCU's only other double-digit rebounding outing with 10 in a road win at Bradley (12/7/09);

- Senior post Adrian Gailliard only played nine minutes on Monday night, all coming in the first half after he became ill in the locker room during halftime;

- Western Carolina slipped to 20th from 13th in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll which came out early Monday evening ... the College of Charleston is just behind WCU in the rankings at 21st, while Wofford made its first-ever appearance in the Mid-Major top 25, debuting this week at 23rd.