Feb. 11, 2011

Box Score |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina redshirt freshman Trey Sumler sank a free throw with one second remaining on the game clock to lift the Catamounts to a thrilling, 69-68, home win over Southern Conference North Division-leading Chattanooga on Friday night in the Ramsey Center.

Tied at 68 after Chattanooga's Ricky Taylor drove the left baseline to knot the game with lay-up, the Catamounts put the ball in the hands of Sumler in the closing seconds. Amidst heavy defensive pressure by the Mocs, Sumler maneuvered to the left elbow of the free throw line and got a shot off before the buzzer, but was fouled on the arm by UTC's Dontay Hampton with one second showing.

Following a timeout by UTC, Sumler - who leads the Catamounts in free throw shooting at 79-percent on the season - calmly sank the front end of the two-shot foul for the one-point, 69-68, lead. He then intentionally clanged the second free throw off the front iron and grabbed his own rebound to allow the final second to expire in regulation, preventing the Mocs from getting a final possession.

Sumler finished with 15 points and a career-high eight assists as the Catamounts won for the third-straight time on the season, and claimed their 10th-straight victory at home. Senior Mike Williams led all scorers with a game-high 22 points, adding five rebounds and four steals.

Freshman Brandon Boggs and redshirt junior Harouna Mutombo both scored eight for WCU.

Taylor finished with 14 points in the defeat for Chattanooga (14-12, 10-4 SoCon), while DeAntre Jefferson scored 13 points with eight boards and Jahmal Burroughs chipped in 10 points. Guard Troy Cage just missed a double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds including eight on the defensive glass.

Western Carolina (12-13, 8-5 SoCon) started out the game cold from the floor, missing its first four shots with a pair of turnovers in its opening seven possessions. Capitalizing on Western's 2-for-8 start and five Catamount turnovers, the Mocs flew out to a 10-point, 16-6, lead midway through the opening 20 minutes.

The Catamounts then closed the half by outscoring Chattanooga, 29-to-11, to erase the 10-point deficit and carry an eight-point, 35-27, lead into the halftime locker room. Williams, who scored 10 points during the run, converted a defensive rebound into a fast-break lay-up with 3:48 remaining in the first half to hand the Catamounts their first lead. From that point on, WCU would never trail the remainder of the game.

In the second half, the Catamounts were able to build the lead to 14 within two minutes after the break on a fast-break lay-up by Williams who leaked out ahead of the play and was found by a pin-point pass by Richie Gordon for the deuce. Gordon had four assists to go along with four points on just 2-of-5 shooting.

Despite the momentum swing from the end of the first half through the start of the second, Chattanooga would not go away. After WCU matched its largest lead of the game at 14 on a 3-pointer by Preston Ross, the Mocs used an 18-to-7 spurt to trim the Catamount edge to three, 62-59, on a triple by Burroughs with four minutes remaining.

Williams, who missed all but nine minutes of the second half due to foul trouble, returned to the court and immediately made his presence known. On the ensuing possession after UTC sliced the deficit three, Williams went to work, pulling up for a jumper to push the edge back to five. Chattanooga managed to tie the game at 66 on a pair of free throws by Burroughs with Williams answering with two charity tosses of his own setting up Taylor's baseline drive to tie the game at 68, setting up Sumler's last-second heroics.

All told, Williams scored six of WCU's final seven points with Sumler capping the night with the made free throw for the victory.

In a battle of the top two rebounding teams in the league, Chattanooga held a 40-to-31 edge on the glass including 13 offensive boards to WCU's 10. The Catamounts were able to force 21 UTC turnovers with 11 steals by WCU defenders.

Western Carolina returns to action in less than 18 hours as it hosts Samford at 3:00 pm in the Ramsey Center. The Bulldogs (12-13, 4-9 SoCon) have dropped three of their last four - and eight of their last 10 overall. WCU looks to avenge an early-season, 63-58, loss suffered at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala., back on December 2, the first full weekend of league play.

Western Carolina vs. Samford - Game Notes

Post-Game Notes:
- Western Carolina and Chattanooga split the regular season head-to-head meetings for the fifth time in the past five seasons - it was the fourth-straight season that the two split by winning on their respective home courts ... the Ramsey Center victory was WCU's fourth-straight over the Mocs dating back to February of 2007 ... WCU pulled the series in Cullowhee to 16-17 overall;

- Western Carolina won its 10th-straight home game on Friday night by downing Chattanooga, 69-68 ... the Catamounts are 8-0 in the Ramsey Center this season ... All told, WCU has 35 of its last 40 home games including 24 of the last 27 against Southern Conference opponents in Cullowhee ... Over the past three seasons, WCU is 33-4 (.892) at home ... During head coach Larry Hunter's tenure, the Catamounts are 56-19 (.747) at home over the past six seasons ... Western Carolina went 14-2 at home in 2009-10 to set a school facility record for wins ... Combined, WCU had a 15-game home winning streak through early February a year ago;

- Mike Williams scored 22 points on Friday night against Chattanooga marking the seventh-time in his WCU career he's surpassed the 20-point plateau ... WCU improved to 3-4 all-time when Williams scores 20-or-more with two wins this season (at Elon 2/2/11, vs. UTC 2/11/11) and one last year at Louisville (12/12/09);

- Senior Richie Gordon had one blocked shot against Chattanooga to give him 106 for his WCU career, third all-time in the career record books, just six shy of tying for second all-time (Tommy Lavelle, 112 blocks from 1961-64);

- Redshirt junior Harouna Mutombo now has 971 career points, just 29 shy of the joining the 1,000 point club ... He is vying to become the 39th different Catamount to score over 1,000 points in their WCU career;

- From Chattanooga's Sports Information: UTC entered the game with an 11-1 record in games where the score was within five points with five minutes to play ... the Mocs were also 3-0 in one-point games prior to Friday night.