Dec. 3, 2011

Box Score |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Redshirt senior Harouna Mutombo led four Catamounts in double figures with 18 points for the second-straight game as Western Carolina opened the home portion of its Southern Conference schedule with a 73-69 victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon in the Ramsey Center.

With the game still hanging in the balance inside of a minute to play, freshman post Kenneth Hall converted a dish from Trey Sumler on a reverse lay-up and later added a defensive rebound on a missed free throw and 1-of-2 charity tosses at the other end to help seal the victory, WCU's third-straight on the season.

Mutombo scored nine of his points from the free throw line on 9-of-11 shooting from the stripe, adding seven rebounds and two steals for the Catamounts. Sophomore Brandon Boggs added 17 points including four 3-pointers with eight rebounds, while senior Keaton Cole nailed a career-high five 3-pointers to account for his 15 points. Cole has 12 made treys in his past three outings.

Despite struggling from the field, Sumler turned in a very solid stat line for the Purple & Gold, scoring 10 points, pulling down a team-high nine rebounds and dishing out a career-high tying eight assists.

Western Carolina (5-4, 2-0 SoCon) fell behind early as UNCG opened up a seven-point edge, 17-10, over the opening seven minutes of the game as the Spartans buried three, 3-pointers on their opening three made field goals. Cole's second made shot from beyond the arc helped WCU reclaim the lead with a triple by Boggs giving the Catamounts their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at four, 23-19.

Tied at 28, the Spartans out-scored WCU, 8-to-6, to carry a two-point, 36-34, lead into halftime.

Neither team was able to manage a double-digit lead on Saturday in a game that was tied four times and saw nine lead changes. UNCG took its largest lead of the game at seven points with five-straight points out of the halftime locker room while the Catamounts built a nine-point edge inside the final five minutes of the second half.

UNCG (2-6, 0-2) led by one, 44-43, before the Catamounts got a go-ahead jumper by Boggs with 14:10 to play and never relinquished the lead. A 10-to-3 spurt that included Cole's fifth 3-pointer after UNCG had closed to within one, 49-48, stretched the WCU advantage to eight points midway through the half.

The two squads essentially traded buckets until five-straight points by Aaron Brackett inside the final two minutes pulled UNCG to within three, 70-67. However, Hall's heroics inside the final minute with the lay-up, board and free throw helped the Catamounts hold off the Spartans and score the victory.

Western Carolina outrebounded the Spartans 40-37 and outscored them 14-10 on second-chance points.

Brackett recorded a double-double to lead UNCG, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds including 11 on the defensive end alone. Drew Parker added 14 points and four assists while Derrell Armstrong scored 13 and Trevis Simpson added 12 points for the Spartans, who lost their third straight. Korey van Dussen chipped in nine points off the bench with a pair of 3-pointers. Western Carolina returns to nonconference play next Wednesday, Dec. 7 as it travels to West Lafayette, Ind., to face Purdue (7-2). WCU has faced the Boilermakers twice previously including the near-upset of then No. 1 seeded Purdue squad by the 16th-seeded Catamounts in the 1996 NCAA Tournament first round game.

Wednesday's game will be televised by the Big Ten Network, with Catamount Sports Network radio coverage locally on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee and 920 AM WPTL in Canton. Fans can also catch the broadcast online at www.CatamountSports.com.

Post-Game Notes:
- Western Carolina won its third-straight game on the season with Saturday's SoCon home-opening victory over UNCG ... the Catamounts won their eighth-straight game over the Spartans, improving to 23-15 in the all-time series including a 15-4 mark in Cullowhee;

- All told, Western Carolina has won 40 of its last 46 home games including 27 of the last 31 Southern Conference games played in Cullowhee ... Dating back to last season, WCU has won three-straight inside the Ramsey Center - and 13 of the last 14 over the past two years ... Over the past three seasons, WCU is 38-5 ... the Catamounts are 61-20 (.753) at home during the seven-year tenure of head coach Larry Hunter;

- Keaton Cole knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers in the home win over UNCG ... Cole has recorded four-or-more 3-pointers in four games this season including the last three games in a row ... Cole has 112 career 3-pointers, just 19 shy of joining WCU's career top-10;

- Trey Sumler just missed a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high tying eight assists in Saturday's winning effort;

- Harouna Mutombo led the Catamounts with 18 points marking his seventh, double-digit scoring outing of the nine seasonal games to date.