Final Stats

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - For just the fourth time in program history, the Western Carolina men’s basketball team went into Chattanooga and came away with a victory Thursday night as the Catamounts downed the Mocs 75-63 to open Southern Conference play with a perfect 2-0 record. The 2-0 start marks the seventh time head coach Larry Hunter has led the Catamounts to a hot start in conference play and the first time since the 2013-14 season when WCU started 4-0 in league action. Junior Mike Amius was nearly unstoppable as he led the squad with a career-high 27 points while hitting 12 of his 16 shots from the field. He also had a team-high eight rebounds and four steals.

WCU led by as many as 20 points in the contest but a late run by the Mocs made things interesting. WCU hit 10-straight free throws in the final minute and a half to ice the game and pick up its sixth win of the season. The victory moves WCU’s record to 6-8 overall and 2-0 in conference play while the Mocs dropped to 6-9 on the season and 0-2 in league action.

Senior Deriece Parks joined Amius in double-figures as he scored 10 points while collecting five rebounds. Freshman Desmond Johnson came up just short with nine points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Junior Marc Gosselin and senior Devin Peterson each chipped in eight points while Gosselin had six rebounds and Peterson dished out two assists. Sophomore Maurice Smith ripped down seven rebounds while scoring four points for the Catamounts.

The Catamounts dominated the glass Thursday night out-rebounding the Mocs 43-24 including ripping down 17 offensive boards compared to UTC’s five. The offensive advantage led to a 21-5 lead in second chance points.

WCU looked inside early and often during the game and came away shooting 52.9 percent from the field after the first 20 minutes of action. The Catamounts cooled off in the second half as they connected on just 35.7 percent of their shots but it was enough to hold off the charging Mocs. UTC was held to 46,0 percent shooting for the game including 43.5 percent in the first half and 48.1 percent in the second.

After starting the year raining in shots from deep the Catamounts have begun to turn their focus on the interior and knocked down just four triples in the game while taking just 15 attempts from beyond the arc.

The Mocs countered with nine 3-pointers including seven in the second half. Makinde London led the UTC effort with 22 points and eight rebounds. Rodney Chatman chipped in 16 points and six assists while Nat Dixon scored 11 points in the loss.

UTC opened up the contest with a quick 9-2 run but after a WCU 30-second timeout, the Catamounts responded with a 19-1 run that featured nine-straight points from Amius including a pair of dunks and an old-fashioned 3-point play. WCU would not relinquish the lead the rest of the contest despite UTC’s best efforts late in the second half. WCU looked like it would take an 11-point lead into the locker room but Johnson heaved a 3-pointer at the buzzer that touched nothing-but-net to give WCU a 14-point lead, its largest halftime lead this season.

The second half started with another quick spurt by the Mocs which cut the lead to just nine one minute into the period. A layup by Johnson and another Amius dunk pushed the lead back to 13 just minutes later. Leading 54-41 with 11:01 left, WCU went on a short 7-0 run which featured baskets from Peterson, Parks and Smith. The run produced WCU’s largest lead of the contest at 20, 61-41.

Just a few minutes later the Mocs began an 8-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to just eight with 3:55 left on the clock. A layup by Amius snapped the streak and kept the feisty Mocs at bay. With 1:05 left, Chattanooga knocked down one of its seven second-half 3-pointers to cut the deficit to just seven but that would be as close as the Mocs would come as the Catamounts nailed all their late free throws which included four different players going to the line.

WCU’s schedule does not get any easier as the Catamounts open conference play with three-straight road games. The Catamounts will now travel to one of the preseason conference favorites Samford Saturday night for an 8 pm contest against the Bulldogs. Samford defeated Chattanooga 73-56 to open up conference play before falling Thursday night to ETSU 90-72. Both of the Bulldog’s conference games have come in Birmingham.