South Bend, Ind. – Southern Conference Preseason Player of the Year Vonterius Woolbright tallied a double-double with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead Western Carolina to a 71-61 road victory over ACC-foe Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon in front of 5,782 at the Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.
 
Woolbright scored 11 of his 22 points from the free throw line including six in the waning moments to hold off the Fighting Irish. He was joined in double figures by backcourt classmate Russell Jones Jr. with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, adding three steals and three assists. Sophomore DJ Campbell finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Bernard Pelote chipped in eight points including a couple of made 3-pointers as the Catamounts held the lead in all but 27 seconds of its second victory of the season.
 
For the Fighting Irish (1-1), freshman post Carey Booth led all scorers with 20 points while classmate Markus Burton scored 17 and Julian Roper II finished with a dozen and a team-best eight rebounds.
 
Trailing just once in the contest at 3-2 at the 18:29 mark of the first half, the Catamounts stretched a two-possession game into double figures near the midpoint of the opening frame on a jumper by Colin Granger to make it 23-12. The Irish responded with three straight buckets to again whittle the lead back down to five, 23-18, roughly 90 seconds later.
 
With just two minutes remaining before intermission, Booth capped an old-fashioned three-point play to pull the hosts to within two, 27-25. However, the Catamounts responded with an 11-0 spurt that included triples by Woolbright and Pelote to push the margin back to double figures at a half-high 13 points, carrying that margin into intermission at 42-29.
 
Out of the halftime locker room, WCU grabbed a game-high 17-point lead at 46-29 just three possessions into the frame. The Catamount advantage hovered around the lower double-digits through the midpoint of the final stanza before the Irish started a charge. From the around the 12-minute mark through the under-four media timeout, Notre Dame outscored the Catamounts 20-to-7 to cut a 16-point margin back to one possession at three, 62-59.
 
Western Carolina connected on 7-of-9 free throws over the final four minutes including 6-of-6 by Woolbright to ice the win, just the fourth for WCU over an opponent currently in the ACC. It was the biggest win for the Catamounts since defeating DePaul (Big East)  in 2010 and downing the then Rick Pitino-led Louisville Cardinals (Big East) in 2009. According to available research, the win over the ACC foe was WCU's first Power Five Conference win since upending Arkansas in the 2003-04 season.
 
After shooting 46 percent from the floor in the first half and connecting on five of its seven made 3-pointers, the Catamounts were limited to right at 30 percent after halftime to finish at 39 percent for the game. Notre Dame hit eight 3-pointers on 38 percent shooting from the field in the loss.
 
Western Carolina (2-0) continues its two-game road swing on Monday night as it travels to Middle Tennessee for a 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT tip-off in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The game can be seen on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live audio from the Catamount Sports Network beginning 30 minutes prior and can be heard on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC The River and online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's basketball and WCU Athletics through our social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@catamountmbb @wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@CatamountMBB @catamounts).