Final Stats

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The Western Carolina men’s basketball team fell 66-50 Saturday afternoon in Johnson City, Tenn., to ETSU who improved to 7-0 in Southern Conference play with the victory. Senior Deriece Parks led WCU with 16 points in the loss while three others chipped in eight points each. The Buccaneers shot just under 50 percent from the field to pull away for the double-digit win.

Parks drained four 3-pointers while scoring his team-high 16 points. Junior Mike Amius saw his double-digit scoring streak stopped as he had eight points and a team-high five rebounds in the contest. Junior Marc Gosselin added eight points and four rebounds while sophomore Adam Sledd came off the bench to score eight points in just 15 minutes of action. Sledd was 4-of-5 from the field and also had four rebounds.

Freshman Matt Halvorsen returned to the Volunteer State and scored seven points while knocking down 5-of-7 attempts from the free throw line.

The loss drops WCU’s record to 8-11 on the year and 4-3 in Southern Conference action. The Buccaneers improved to 16-4 overall and 7-0 in league action.

ETSU placed two scorers in double-figures led by Desonta Bradford who had 16 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and a pair of blocks. Jalan McCloud chipped in 13 points and four rebounds.

WCU struggled offensively throughout the game and shot just 32.2 percent from the field. The Buccaneers on the other hand struggled early but recovered to shoot 49.0 percent from the floor including 57.1 percent in the second half.

WCU forced ETSU into 17 turnovers while limiting their own mistakes to just 13. ETSU won the rebounding battle 38-28 despite the Catamounts grabbing 12 offensive boards.

ETSU opened the game on an 11-0 run that spanned just over eight minutes. Amius scored WCU’s first points of the game at the 11:58 mark on a layup. WCU would score the next nine points as they cut the lead to just two with 10:24 left. Parks, Gosselin and Halvorsen all chipped in on the run. The Catamounts would keep the deficit to single digits until the 2:16 mark of the period when a pair of ETSU free throws pushed the Bucs ahead by 11. WCU cut the lead to eight on a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left but ETSU responded with a three of its own to take a 31-20 lead into the break.

ETSU quickly jumped out to a 19-point edge after scoring the first eight points of the second half before a Parks 3-pointer ended the streak. ETSU would push its lead back to 19 with 12:42 left in the game but WCU continued to fight. A jumper by Sledd with 9:19 left cut the deficit to just 11 but that would be as close as the Catamounts would come as ETSU kept them at bay. The lead grew to as many as 22 in the second half but a 6-0 spurt by the Catamounts to close out the game cut the final deficit to 16, 66-50.

The Catamounts will now return home to face Southern Wesleyan Thursday night for a 7 pm tip-off. The game was originally scheduled for December 8 but was moved due to inclement weather.