Final Stats |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - For just the second time this season, the Western Carolina men's basketball team played in front of its hometown fans. Unfortunately for the Catamounts the home court advantage was not enough Thursday night as the Raiders of Wright State University handed the Catamounts a 69-56 defeat.

WCU trailed for most of the contest but the Catamounts were able to tie the game up with just under 6:30 to play. The Raiders rallied and used a 10-2 run to reopen an eight point lead that the Catamounts would never erase.

The loss moves Western Carolina's record to 3-8 on the year while Wright State improved to 8-4 overall.

Junior Mike Brown led the way for WCU with 16 points and six rebounds. Junior Rhett Harrelson added 14 points while tying a career-high with five rebounds. The final double-digit scorer was senior James Sinclair who had 10 points. Sinclair led the team in both assists and blocks with three and four, respectively. The four blocks set a new career-high for Sinclair.

Sinclair was not the only one getting into the block party as the Catamounts registered a season-high 11 blocks in the game. Sinclair led with four while senior Kenneth Hall had three and junior Justin Browning had three. The only other block came from redshirt freshman Charlendez Brooks.

Junior Torrion Brummitt got into some early foul trouble but ended the game with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Catamounts led by as many as six points early in the contest but a 10-2 run put the game in Wright State's favor with just over 10 minutes left to play in the first. The Catamounts kept WSU's lead to single-digits the rest of the period but the Raiders took a 31-24 lead into the break.

WSU scored the opening four points of the second half to push its lead to 11. The Catamounts answered with a 9-0 run that featured a pair of baskets from Sinclair. The Catamounts kept it close over the next several possessions and eventually tied the game at 49 with 6:23 to play. WSU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Reggie Arceneaux that started a 19-4. The Catamounts were unable to recover from that point and the Raiders went on to capture a 69-56 victory.

Wright State was led by J.T. Yoho who had 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Arceneaux added 15 points off the bench while Joe Thomasson had 14.

The Catamounts will be back in action this Sunday at rival UNC Ashville. The game is set to tip at 2 pm and will air locally on My-40.