CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Mason Faulkner's floater with 5.5 seconds remaining gave Western Carolina the go-ahead points and sophomore Xavier Cork's emphatic blocked shot with less than a second remaining preserved a 76-75 win for the Catamounts over The Citadel on Monday afternoon in Southern Conference men's basketball action at the Ramsey Center.

With the game in his hands as the seconds ticked down, Faulkner muscled his way into the lane to drain what proved to be the game-winning shot with under six seconds showing. On the ensuing possession, Bulldog junior Hayden Brown raced up the floor in an attempt to go coast-to-coast and try and beat both the clock and WCU with a last-second rainbow shot. However, with the ball at its apex, Cork flashed across the lane, leaped, and swatted the attempt. The rebound stayed inbounds where the Catamounts collected it as time expired, halting a seven-game slide with the team's first conference victory of the season.

Western Carolina improves to 8-9 and 1-7 while The Citadel drops to 9-6 and 2-6 in conference play with its second-consecutive loss in the two-game road swing.
Faulkner's 21-point output is his fifth 20-point plus game this season and 19th while at WCU. The redshirt senior from Glasgow, Ky., was 7-for-15 from the field and 7-for-8 at the free throw line. Cory Hightower tallied 16 points before fouling out late in the second half while redshirt freshman Ahmir Langlais poured in a career-best 14 points. Cork just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds and also had a game-high three blocks.

Kaiden Rice led The Citadel with 17 points followed by Fletcher Abee and Brown both with 16. Brown posted a double-double, pulling down a game-best 17 rebounds, 13 on defense.

The opening half featured four ties and four lead changes with the largest lead enjoyed by either team being eight points. The Citadel opened the game on a 6-0 run and led in the early stages before a Langlais layup tied the game at 8 with 14:40 to play. Trailing 14-12, The Citadel went on an 11-2 run for a 23-16 lead following a Brown layup with 7:23 remaining. WCU pulled within one, 28-27, on a Langlais layup with 2:56 remaining before the Bulldogs took a 35-30 lead into halftime.

Trailing by five points early in the second half, WCU tallied seven straight points to take a 43-41 on a Matt Halvorsen jumper with 16:02 remaining. The Citadel took a 54-48 lead on a Rudy Fitzgibbons III 3-pointer with 11:49 to play and led at the midpoint of the half before a Faulkner layup put the Catamounts back on top 58-56 with 8:34 remaining. Neither team led by more than four points over the next seven minutes in a stretch that had three ties and six lead changes.

After a pair of Abee foul shots put the Bulldogs ahead 73-72, Faulkner sank two free throws with 1:28 to play for a 74-73 Catamount lead. Tyler Moffe's jumper on the next Bulldog possession gave the visitors a 75-74 advantage with 1:11 left. After a missed Catamount shot, Moffe was fouled with 21 seconds left with a chance to stretch the lead, but missed on the front end of a one-and-one situation with Cork grabbing the rebound. With the shot clock off, the Catamounts came into the front court and took their final timeout that preceded the closing second heroics of both Faulkner and Cork.

WCU finished 32-for-62 (51.6 percent) from the field and 10-for-15 (66.7 percent) at the free-throw line. The Citadel was 30-for-60 (50 percent) from the field and 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) at the stripe. Entering the game as the top 3-point shooting team in the conference with over 13 made treys per game, the Bulldogs were limited to just 4-of-19 (21.1-percent) from range by the Catamount defense. WCU managed just two made 3-pointers in a game that saw a combined 100 points scored in the paint.

The Catamounts remain at home on Wednesday, hosting Chattanooga at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live audio on the Catamount Sports Network beginning at 6:30 p.m.

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