Final Stats |   

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Bears of Mercer University used a 14-2 run, that closed out the opening half, to pull away from the Catamounts of Western Carolina Saturday afternoon inside the Ramsey Center. Mercer outscored WCU 43-23 in the opening 20 minutes to secure a 70-50 victory. The Catamounts were paced by junior Haboubacar Mutombo who scored 13 points including knocking down 7-of-8 shots at the free throw line.

Two days after posting a season-high 57.9 percent shooting night against The Citadel WCU struggled to score the basket converting on just 31.4 percent of its shots against the Bears. The largest discrepancy came from beyond the 3-point arc where WCU nailed 9-of-16 attempts (56.3%) against The Citadel and just 2-of-17 (11.8%) versus the Bears.

The loss drops Western Carolina's record to 6-14 on the year and 1-6 in Southern Conference play. The Bears improved to 9-12 overall and 3-5 in league action.

Freshman Adam Sledd joined Mutombo in double-figures as he scored 10 points while collecting six rebounds. Sophomore Marc Gosselin led the Catamounts on the boards collecting seven misses while scoring just two points.

Junior Devin Peterson and sophomore Elijah Pughsley just missed out on double-figures with nine and eight points, respectively.

Mercer was led by Ria'n Holland, who ranks third in the SoCon in scoring, with 23 points while Jaylen Stowe scored 10. The Bears knocked down 11 3-pointers in the contest and shot 50.0 percent from the field.

The Bears also dominated the glass, out-rebounding WCU 38-27.

The Catamounts will now look to Wednesday night's contest with Upstate rival Furman. WCU travels to Greenville for a 7 pm contest on Jan. 25.