Tallhassee, Fla. – Junior Brandon Morgan posted a season-high 13 points as one of three in double figures, but Western Carolina couldn't overcome a strong early offensive showing from ACC counterpart Florida State as the Seminoles handed the Catamounts a 91-57 nonconference win in men's basketball action on Tuesday night inside the Donald L. Tucker Center.
Morgan connected on 5-of-7 field goals including 3-of-4 from deep to match his best in a Catamount uniform. Morgan also tallied a pair of assists for WCU. Junior Ice Emery joined the double-figure scoring on Tuesday for his third straight game, adding 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting with a pair of treys. Redshirt sophomore Cord Stansberry likewise finished with 10 points including a pair of 3-pointers. Freshman CJ Hyland had the best offensive showing of his young career with nine points on an effective 3-of-5 shooting.
Redshirt sophomore Marcus Kell led the way for WCU on the glass with six rebounds with four coming on the offensive side of the court. Junior Vernon Collins made his first career start for the Catamounts and had a strong night on the block with three rejections to run his seasonal total to a team-high eight through five games.
Florida State was led by Daquan Davis who scored a game-high 19 points including 3-of-4 from deep and was 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Jamir Watkins added 14 points and 12 points from Malique Ewin rounded out their double-figure scoring. FSU had four players with a team-high four rebounds including Ewin and Davis. Watkins paced the team with four assists as Chandler Jackson recorded five steals.
Florida State (7-1) opened Tuesday's contest red-hot with a 20-5 lead in the opening eight minutes to seize early control of the action. The Catamounts offense got going with a 10-3 run of their own over the next three minutes to cut the FSU lead to eight, 23-15.
The Seminoles put together a second sizeable run in the opening half with a 23-5 burst to stretch the lead to 26, 46-20 before a pair of late treys from Stansberry and Emery help cut into the deficit with FSU banking in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to take a halftime lead at 49-26.
Western Carolina began the second half fast with a 10-5 burst including threes from Morgan and Stansberry to help cut into the deficit. However, a 7-2 answer from the Seminoles stretched the lead to 23, 61-38, with 13:16 to play.
After a quick four points from Morgan and Fischer Brown, FSU used a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to push the margin to 77-46 with seven minutes to play. WCU scored six unanswered points but would get no closer on Tuesday night as a 10-3 run over the final 3:49 led the Seminoles to a 91-57 nonconference victory.
Western Carolina shot 32.8% (21-of-64) from the floor with eight 3-pointers on 22.2 percent shooting. WCU was effective at the foul line, going 7-of-9 (77.8%). On the other side of the court, FSU posted a strong 57.4% (31-of-54) shooting outing from the floor. FSU connected on nine threes and made 20-of-26 at the foul line.
The hosts won a tight rebounding battle on Tuesday by five, 36-31, as the Catamounts had an 11-8 edge on the offensive glass. Both teams took advantage of giveaways. The Seminoles had 18 turnovers that WCU turned into 15 points, while the Catamounts had 19 turnovers that became 20 points for Florida State.
Western Carolina (2-3) closes out the tough three-game stretch with a trip to Milwaukee, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 30, at 2 p.m. ET, as WCU battles #10/11 Marquette. The matchup with the Golden Eagles will be shown on Fox Sports 2 (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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