Dec. 21, 2011

Box Score

Peoria, Ill. - Keaton Cole drained a floating runner on the left side of the lane with 5.7 seconds remaining Tuesday night to lift Western Carolina over Bradley, 68-67, in nonconference action. The tightly contested game featured 15 ties and eight lead changes, and was not decided until the final horn in the Carter Arena.

Trailing by six points (62-56) at the four minute mark, WCU outscored the Braves 12-to-5 to close the game to rally for the victory. Redshirt sophomore Trey Sumler started the rally after being fouled on a 3-pointer attempt, stepping to the line to bury all three free throws to close back within three. Following a missed shot on the defensive end, Cole tied the game at 62 with his third 3-pointer of the game.

Knotted again at 64 following an offensive rebound slam dunk by Ishmael Hollis, the Flowery Branch, Ga., native then came up with a steal on the other end with less than 90 seconds to play. On offense, WCU worked the ball inside to sophomore Tawaski King who made a power move past Bradley post Jordan Prosser for two of his six points to push the Catamounts ahead, 66-64.

Prosser exacted a bit of revenge inside the game's final 30 seconds, dunking a missed shot on an offensive rebound to give Bradley a one-point, 67-66, lead at the 28-second mark. After a series of timeouts, WCU ended up with the ball in Cole's hands. With 5.7 seconds showing on the clock, the Toronto, Ontario, native worked his way into the paint and got off a floating runner that found the range for the one-point Catamount edge.

On the ensuing possession, Bradley guard Walt Lemon Jr., took the inbounds pass amidst Catamount pressure and drove up the court. Just inside the 3-point line, Lemon fumbled the basketball forward, nearly losing it out of bounds. Instead, it ended up in the hands of Dyricus Simms-Edwards who launched an off-balance jumper from the left wing as time expired, clanging it long off the back-side iron.

Both Cole and Sumler were held scoreless in the opening 20 minutes, but combined to record 24 of WCU's 37 second half points in securing the road victory, the Catamounts' third-straight over Bradley. Cole led four in double figures with a team-high 13 points while Sumler added 11 points, eight of which came from the free throw line.

Redshirt senior Harouna Mutombo - WCU's catalyst for much of the first half - scored 11 points with nine rebounds and four assists in the win while Brandon Boggs finished with 10. Hollis, making his first collegiate start, responded with career highs of nine points and 10 rebounds including three on the offensive end.

Bradley (5-6) likewise put four in double figures with Simms-Edwards pacing the squad with 17 points and both of the Braves' 3-pointers. Prosser finished with 15 points and eight boards, while Lemon Jr., and Taylor Brown scored 11 and 10, respectively.

Through the opening 20 minutes, Western Carolina was able to pull ahead by five points early only to see the Braves respond and take their largest lead of the first half at four points inside of five minutes. With Bradley poised to carry a three-point lead into the halftime locker room, sophomore Preston Ross buried a 3-pointer from the left corner in the closing seconds for three of his six points to send teams off the court tied at 31.

All told, neither team was able to pull away in the see-saw affair with both building largest leads of just six points.

Western Carolina will break for the Christmas holiday before returning home to host mountain-rival UNC Asheville (6-5) in the Ramsey Center on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 6:00 pm.

Post-Game Notes:
- Western Carolina swept the scheduled three-game series - two road, one home - with the Bradley Braves over the past three seasons ... the Catamounts had to overcome second half deficits each year, rallying from down 10 in 2009, 12 in Cullowhee last year and a six-point deficit with four minutes to play this season;

- WCU head coach Larry Hunter took the "rubber match" between he and former player and assistant coach, Geno Ford ... the first two meetings came while Ford was the head coach at Kent State with Hunter winning on the road in overtime in the first meeting before falling two years later in the ESPN BracketBuster game in Kent, Ohio ... Ford played for Hunter at Ohio Univ., from 1993-97, scoring 1,700 career points, before joining Hunter on the bench as an assistant coach from 1998-2001;

- Hunter improved to 5-0 all-time against Bradley with the win on Tuesday including a 3-0 mark in Cullowhee and two wins over the Braves while the head coach at Ohio Univ.;

- Keaton Cole recorded three more made 3-pointers in the road win over Bradley, giving him 121 in his four-year career ... He is know just 10 made treys shy of joining WCU's career 3-pointers made chart;

- Harouna Mutombo finished with 11 points to give him 1,274 for his career ... He remains ranked 23rd in school history in scoring and is just 13 points shy of matching former Catamount standout Jake Robinson (2006-10, 1287 points).