March 6, 2010

Box Score |   

Charlotte, N.C. - Stifling defense and an 18-to-0 first-half run by the North Division's second seed Western Carolina led the Catamounts to a 68-57 quarterfinal victory over Elon Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Saturday at the Bojangles' Coliseum. Junior Richie Gordon led four Catamounts in double figures with a game-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting as WCU won its third-straight.

WCU improves to 22-10, advancing to the conference semifinals for the first-time since 1999, while the Phoenix, No. 6 North, ends their season at 9-23.

"I thought our guys had really good energy and concentration for most of the ballgame," said fifth-year head coach Larry Hunter during the post-game press conference. "We knew Elon was playing well and playing with a lot of confidence and are much improved. We knew we had to play well to have a chance to win. I thought our defense was terrific."

Western Carolina used a dominating inside performance out-scoring Elon 36-6 in the paint led by Gordon's 16 points and eight rebounds. Gordon has scored in double figures in three of his last four games. Chris Long led the Phoenix with 15 points and seven assists.

The Catamounts advance to the semifinal to face the South Division's top-seed, Wofford, which beat UNC Greensboro, 59-47. Gametime for the first Sunday semifinal game is slated for 6:00 pm at the Time Warner Cable Arena, home of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. Both SoCon semifinal matchups will be broadcast by SportSouth.

It was a nip-and-tuck battle early before Western Carolina, down 15-11, held Elon without a field goal for more than eight minutes powering an 18-0 run to go up 29-15. Despite outshooting the Phoenix (53.8% to 25.9%) and having an overwhelming 22-4 advantage with points in the paint, WCU carried a 31-23 lead into intermission.

During the 18-0 spurt, the Catamount defense forced five Phoenix turnovers and forced Elon into 0-for-10 shooting from the floor.

Elon cut the lead to five, 34-29, on a 3-pointer by Long at 16:14, but that's as close as the score would get. WCU built the lead back up to 13, 48-35, on a Gordon basket inside with 9:53 remaining. The Phoenix got as close as seven inside the three-minute mark, but the Catamounts always had an answer.

Western's answers were on defense and rebounding throughout the day. The Catamounts limited Elon to 30 percent shooting (15-of-50) from the floor. The Phoenix shot 36.7 percent, 11-30, from three-point range, but they could muster just 4-of-20 shooting, 20 percent, inside the arc.

The Catamounts had no such issue.

While hitting just 25 percent, 4-of-16 from beyond the arc, WCU made 62.5 percent (20-32) inside it. Harouna Mutumbo with 14, Mike Williams with 13 and Jake Robinson tallied 10 as the trio combined for 37 points off the bench as the Catamounts' reserves had a 39-8 advantage over their Elon counterparts.

Drew Spradlin with 13 points and T.J. Douglas with 12 joined Long in double digits for the Phoenix. They end their season in the quarterfinals for the second straight year after a run to the finals in 2008.

Post-Game Notes:

- Western Carolina snapped a three-game losing skid in SoCon tournament games and will advance to the SoCon semifinals for the first time since doing so in Greensboro back in 1999;

- The Catamounts are perfect in two SoCon tournament meetings with Elon, also downing the Phoenix, 69-65, in a first round game in 2007;

- Elon made 11 3-pointers (11-of-30, 36.7%) against WCU, the bulk of its 15 made field goals in the game ... the Phoenix only made four shots that were inside the 3-point arc;

- WCU outrebounded Elon, 44-to-25, in the win, including 17 offensive boards for WCU;

- Western Carolina will face the winner of the #1S Wofford vs. #4N UNC Greensboro game ... WCU is 1-1 all-time against Wofford in SoCon tournament games, winning in 1999 before falling in 2008 ... the Catamounts are winless in three attempts all-time against UNC Greensboro, falling in 1998, 2001 and most recently in 2006 ... WCU won all three meetings against the two during the regular season, sweeping UNCG and downing Wofford in the lone meeting in Cullowhee;

- Senior Brigham Waginger continued to build upon his own school single-season record for steals, swiping three in the win over Elon ... Waginger has 87 steals on the year to move into a tie for fourth on the SoCon's single-season ledger, tied with Appalachian State's Tyson Patterson (2006-07) while remaining third with on the conference's career chart at 282;

- Senior Jake Robinson made one 3-pointer in the win over Elon to give him 272 for his career, one shy of tying for fifth in the SoCon record books ... Robinson did move into sole possession of third-place in the school's single-season record book with his 78th trey of the season.