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Cullowhee, N.C. - Senior James Sinclair of the Western Carolina men's basketball team became the 45th Catamount in program history to reach 1,000 career points Thursday night in a loss to ETSU inside the Ramsey Center. Sinclair needed 14 points to reach to milestone and finished the game with a team-high 25 points as the Buccaneers of ETSU outlasted the Catamounts 83-76.

The Catamounts never led in the game but they kept it close throughout as the Southern Conference's leading scorer, Jalen Riley, poured in 31 points for the Bucs. ETSU connected on 11 3-pointers and took advantage of 19 WCU turnovers to claim the victory.

Sinclair led the Catamounts in both points (25) and assists (6) Thursday night. Junior Mike Brown joined Sinclair in double-figures with 16 points, five rebounds and three steals. Junior Torrion Brummitt chipped in 14 points and 14 rebounds for his third career double-double. He also had three blocks, two steals and two assists.

Junior Rhett Harrelson, who had a career-high 30 points in WCU's last meeting with ETSU, finished with nine points all of which came from 3-point territory.

The Buccaneers improved to 10-5 on the year while moving their SoCon record to 5-2. The Catamounts fell to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in SoCon play.

The Catamounts and Bucs combined for 37 turnovers as WCU committed 19 and ETSU had 18. The Bucs were able to capitalize on WCU's turnovers for 27 points while WCU was only able to score 16 points off of ETSU's mistakes.

WCU grabbed 13 offensive boards while the Bucs had just five but that converted into just a two-point advantage in second chance points for the Catamounts (9-7).

ETSU opened the game on a 9-3 run and held a single-digit lead for most of the first half. A 5-0 run by the Bucs with under eight minutes to play in the first period opened up the first double-digit lead of the game. A Rashawn Rembert 3-pointer with 2:53 left in the period gave ETSU its largest lead of the half at 36-23. The half would eventually end with the Bucs in control, 37-26.

The Catamounts scored five of the first seven points of the second half to cut ETSU's lead back to single digits but an A.J. Merriweather 3-pointer ended the spurt and pushed the lead back to 11. A 7-0 run a few minutes later that started with five-straight points from Brummitt including an old-fashioned 3-point play cut the advantage to just four points with 13:59 to play.

After the Bucs pushed their lead back to 11 points, the Catamounts began an 11-1 run that featured Sinclair passing the 1,000 point mark. Browning and Sinclair started the run by connecting on four-straight free throws. After a ETSU free throw, Sinclair hit a jumper that pushed his career total to 1,001 points. ETSU missed a 3-pointer on the other end and Brummitt collected the rebound and found Sinclair. Sinclair pushed the ball up the court and found freshman Devin Peterson on the wing and Peterson nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Buccaneers lead to three. ETSU called a timeout following the play. After the timeout, Brummitt blocked ETSU's next shot attempt and grabbed the rebound and once again found Sinclair. Sinclair fed the ball ahead to Brown who finished the fast break layup to trim the lead to just one with 9:31 remaining in the game.

The Catamounts went scoreless the next minute and a half as the Bucs pushed their lead back up to five. WCU was unable to get any closer as the Buccaneers kept the Catamounts at bay. ETSU eventually ballooned its lead to 10 points with just under a minute to play. Sinclair hit a three to cut the lead to seven and stole the ball on ETSU's very next possession. Both Sinclair and Harrelson missed 3-pointers with 40 seconds left on the clock which would have cut the lead to just four points. ETSU was able to secure the rebound and hit its free throws. Peterson nailed his second 3-pointer of the game with 24 ticks left but the clock was not on WCU's side as ETSU took advantage of the late fouling and held on for a 83-76 victory.

ETSU was led by Riley's 31 points. Rembert added 21 points while Merriweather had 12.

The Catamounts will have one day off before returning to action on Saturday as they travel to defending Southern Conference Champions Wofford. The game is set for 7 pm.