Final Stats

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The Buccaneers of ETSU used a dominating opening half to down the visiting Catamounts of Western Carolina Saturday afternoon, 75-52. ETSU shot over 70 percent from the field in the opening half to build a 46-25 halftime lead. The second half was a much closer affair as WCU fell by just two points.

WCU was held without a double-digit scorer for the second time this season after going over 30 years without that occurring. It happened the first time at West Virginia earlier this season which was the first time since Dec. 16, 1983 for the Catamounts.

Freshmen Adam Sledd and Onno Steger along with sophomore Marc Gosselin all scored nine points in the game. Steger and Sledd each collected four rebounds to tie for the team lead while Gosselin collected two. Junior Haboubacar Mutombo and sophomore Elijah Pughsley each added six points.

The loss drops WCU to 0-5 in conference play for the first time since the 2004-05 season when the Catamounts started 0-6. WCU also falls to 5-13 overall. The Bucs improved to 4-1 in league action and 14-4 overall.

Two days after committing a season-low eight turnovers against VMI, WCU was forced into 27 mistakes which led to 23 ETSU points. The Bucs also dominated in the paint outscoring the Catamounts 44-22 down low. ETSU’s two big men combined to go 11-of-11 from the floor and scored 26 of the Buccaneer’s 75 points.

ETSU jumped out to a 15-3 lead after just six minutes and never looked back in the opening half. The lead would balloon to 21 at the 1:48 mark as an ETSU layup gave the Buccaneers a 42-21 lead. The two teams would trade baskets to set the halftime score at 46-25.

WCU struggled both from the field and at the free throw line in the first half. The Catamounts connected on just 37.5 percent of its opening half shots and was 5-10 at the free throw line. ETSU on the other hand had a hard time missing the basket as the Buccaneers hit 73.1 percent of their attempts from the field including 16-of-19 from inside the 3-point arc. Turnovers also plagued the Catamounts in the first 20 minutes as they turned the ball over 14 times after having a season-low eight turnovers against VMI this past Thursday.

The second half was a much closer contest as WCU fell 29-27 in the final 20 minutes. WCU held the Buccaneers to 39.1 percent shooting including limiting ETSU to 1-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. The Catamounts continued to struggle on the offensive end hitting just 34.8 percent of their second half shots and 2-of-5 from three.

The Catamounts will return home Thursday, Jan. 19 as they host The Citadel at 7 pm. The game will be “Throwback Night” in the Ramsey Center as all fans are encouraged to wear 1980’s and 90’s attire and all arena music will come from those two decades.