Birmingham, Ala. – Western Carolina used a 14-1 run in the early stages of the second half to separate themselves from Samford in a 78-70 victory over the Bulldogs on Wednesday night at the Pete Hanna Center.
With the victory, WCU improves to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in the Southern Conference. Samford drops to 8-17 and 2-9.
Carlos Dotson tallied his sixth straight double-double with a game-high 20 points and 14 rebounds. It is the fifth time this season and eighth time in his career that the Riverdale, Md. native has reached the 20-point mark in a game.
Onno Steger tallied 18 points followed by
Mason Faulkner with 16 points. Both Steger and Faulkner grabbed seven rebounds with Faulkner distributing a game-high seven assists.
Robert Allen paced Samford with 15 points. Jalen Dupree finished with 14 points followed by Brandon Austin and J.P Robinson both with 10 points.
WCU opened the game on an 8-2 run following a Steger 3-pointer with just over 17 minutes remaining in the opening period. The Bulldogs pulled to within two, 10-8, after a Logan Dye layup at the 14:06 mark. Dotson extended the WCU lead to six, 14-8 on a layup at the 14:08 mark before a pair of Sharkey free throws brought the hosts within one, 16-15, with 9:15 remaining. After the Catamounts took a 20-15 lead at the 8:36 mark, Samford went on an 8-0 run capped by a Robinson layup for a 23-20 advantage with just under five minutes remaining. Of the eight points scored in Samford's run, six were scored at the free throw line. Dupree's layup at the 3:22 mark gave the Bulldogs a 25-21 lead before WCU went on a 10-2 run for a 31-27 advantage after two Dotson free throws with 41 seconds left.
Douglas Elks drained a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give WCU a 34-30 lead at halftime.
Samford tallied the first four points of the second half to even the game at 34 with 18:28 remaining. The teams traded 3-pointers on both of their next two possessions before the Catamounts went on an 11-0 run as a Steger layup put WCU ahead 48-37 with 13:30 to play. Josh Sharkey made one of two free throw attempts before Steger sank a 3-pointer on the next Catamount possession for a 51-38 with just under 13 minutes to play. Allen brought the Bulldogs within nine, 53-44, on a layup at the 11:20 mark but the Catamounts answered with seven of the next nine points for a 60-46 lead after a Cork dunk at the nine-minute mark. Dotson completed a three-point play for a game-high 17-point lead, 67-50, with seven minutes left. A
Travion McCray free throw put WCU ahead 72-58 with 2:27 left before the Bulldogs sliced the WCU lead to seven, 72-65 after Austin sank two free throws with 61 seconds to play. WCU secured the victory with six Faulkner free throws down the stretch.
WCU outrebounded Samford 43-37. The Catamounts finished 28-for-60 (46.7 percent) from the field while Samford was 21-for-63 (33.3 percent) Samford made 24 of 26 free throw attempts (92.3 percent) while the Catamounts hit 15 of 25 shots at the charity stripe. The teams combined to go 11-for-44 behind the 3-point line.
The Catamounts host Furman on Saturday at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance to secure the best seats and avoid lines on game day. The Catamount Ticket Office and Ramsey Center doors will open at 12:30 pm. Students sitting in the Cat Cage Student Section are eligible for the promotional giveaway, a pair of WCU logo socks courtesy of Catamount Peak Apartments.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts) and Twitter (@catamounts, @wcu_mbb).
