Final Stats

Rochester, Mich. - With six minutes to play, the Western Carolina men's basketball team found itself tied with Georgia State at the CBE Hall of Fame Classic Regional Round in Rochester, Mich., but an 18-2 run by the Panthers gave GSU an insurmountable lead as the Catamounts fell 85-70.

Western Carolina moves to 2-3 on the year while Georgia State improves to 3-2. WCU will take on Chicago State tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in its final game of the CBE Classic while the Panthers will face host Oakland at 7 p.m.

The Catamounts were led by junior Rhett Harrelson who eclipsed his career-high in points for the third time this season as he poured in 21 tallies while going a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line. He also had three assists and a steal in the game. Junior Torrion Brummitt continued his strong play at the classic with 15 points and eight rebounds while going 6-of-8 from the field.

Senior James Sinclair saw his 20-plus point streak end as he scored 14 points in the loss while dishing out three assists, grabbing four boards and picking up a steal. Junior Mike Brown was WCU's final double-digit scorer as he chipped in 11 points, four assists, four rebounds and a steal.

The Catamounts were 11-of-25 from the field in both halves to finish with a .440 shooting percentage. After going 10-of-10 at the charity stripe in the first half the Catamounts connected on just 8-of-15 in the second half to finish at 72.0 percent in the game.

The Panthers controlled the boards (36-27) and won the turnover battle (13-6) in route to the victory. They shot 49.2 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe. Their biggest advantages came in the paint (42-20), off turnovers (22-7) and on second chance baskets (22-7).

R.J. Hunter led Georgia State with 27 points while Ryan Harrow chipped in 21.

The Catamounts found themselves in foul trouble throughout the game and ended up losing both Mike Brown and Justin Browning to five fouls late in the game. Kenneth Hall also finished with four fouls while Sinclair and Brummitt ended the game with three.

WCU trailed by as many as seven points in the opening half and led by as many as two points as both teams went back-and-forth. With 3:59 left in the first and the Catamounts trailing by just one, the Panthers began a 7-2 run to open up a six point lead. Four free throws down the stretch cut that lead to just two with 21 seconds left but a jumper by Hunter with three ticks left gave GSU a 39-35 halftime advantage.

A three by Sinclair followed by a layup from Brummitt opened up the second half for the Catamounts as they claimed an early 40-39 lead. After a layup and free throw by the Panthers, Harrelson hit a triple to give WCU back the lead with 17:28 left on the clock. After some back-and-forth possessions the Panthers began to slightly pull away and eventually led by six points with just under 10 minutes left on the clock. Three minutes later back-to-back 3-pointers by Harrelson tied the game at 64 but that is when the Panthers went into overdrive as they began a four minute 18-2 run to take a 16 point lead with just under two minutes to play. The Catamounts were unable to erase the large deficit and ended the game down, 85-70.