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Junior guard Brandon Morgan finished as one of four players in double figures with 11 points making three from beyond the arc during Monday night's 100-61 victory over Bob Jones on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Samuel Wallace - WCU Communications and Marketing
61
Bob Jones BJU 0-1
100
Winner Western Caro. WCU 1-0,0-0 SoCon
Bob Jones BJU
0-1
61
Final
100
Western Caro. WCU
1-0,0-0 SoCon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Bob Jones BJU 32 29 61
Western Caro. WCU 48 52 100

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Greg Hartlage, Director of Media Relations

Kell Leads Balanced Scoring to 100-61 Debut Win

Cullowhee, N.C. – Seeing his first live game action since the 2022-23 season, redshirt sophomore forward Marcus Kell led four Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina rolled past Bob Jones University 100-61 Monday night on Ingles Court in the Ramsey Center. The win marked the first as a Catamount for first-year head coach Tim Craft.
 
Kell was joined in double figures by redshirt junior Chase McKey, who poured in 13 points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Junior Brandon Morgan added 11 points, including three 3-pointers, and redshirt sophomore Cord Stansberry tallied 11 points, including three from beyond the arc.
 
Western Carolina (1-0) was led on the glass by senior Bernard Pelote who had eight boards along with nine points. Sophomore Jamar Livingston joined Pelote with eight rebounds, and McKey rounded out the trio. The Catamounts finished with 26 combined assists distributed by 10 players, marking the most by a Catamount squad since Nov. 17, 2018, when WCU totaled 29 against Hiwassee.
 
Counting Monday's game as an exhibition, Bob Jones (0-1) was led by Shad Vander Hart with 16 points, hitting 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Trevor Brunson scored 12 points and Devin Dean had eight for the Bruins.
 
WCU saw 11 players make their debuts for the Purple & Gold including freshman CJ Hyland, redshirt freshman Brandon White, redshirt sophomore Cinque Lemon, freshman Fischer Brown, and redshirt freshman Kamari Jones, each making their collegiate debuts.
 
The Catamounts used a balanced scoring attack to spearhead a 15-5 first-half spurt led by junior Vernon Collins with a pair of buckets that turned a one-point deficit, 8-7, into a 21-12 lead just past the under-12 media timeout in the first 20 minutes on Monday.
 
The guests inched the deficit back to within seven, 23-16 before the Catamounts rattled off a 16-3 run over the next four minutes to stretch the lead out to 20, 39-19, with 4:14 to go in the half. WCU pushed the lead back-and-forth to 20 before a late 8-4 spurt from Bob Jones sent the game to halftime at 48-32.
 
In the opening half, Kell led all players with a career-high 13 points. The Rock Hill, S.C., native was a perfect 5-of-5, including a triple and a pair of free throws. WCU finished the first 20 minutes, going 20-of-34 (58.8%) from the field.
 
Out of the intermission, the Bruins managed to cut the deficit down to 13 at 49-36 just two minutes into the second half before the Catamounts used a 10-2 run over the next 2:19 to push the lead to 21, 59-38 with 15:25 to play.
 
WCU wouldn't allow Bob Jones to get any closer on Monday night, using a 15-5 spurt over the next three minutes led by Brown with a pair of threes and a triple from Morgan to stretch it to a 31-point lead at 74-43 with 11:36 to go as McKey capped the burst with a slam. The game would swell to a 41-point lead after a Stansberry triple at 5:20 to go at 92-51, with the final five minutes seeing the two teams trade points before the final of 100-61.
 
Western Carolina shot a blistering 59.7 percent from the floor on Monday, closing the game with a 60.7% (17-of-28) from the field in the second 20 minutes. The Catamounts finished 13-of-34 from behind the 3-point line, 38.2% from deep, while adding 13 free throws shooting at a 72.2% rate. On the defensive side of the court, WCU held Bob Jones to 31 percent while out-rebounding the Bruins 52-to-24. The Catamounts controlled paint scoring at a 48-14 clip and outscored the Bruins 49-22 off the bench.
 
The Catamounts open their road slate on Friday, Nov. 8, with a trip to Charlotte to battle Queens University (1-0) in the first game of the ASUN-SoCon Challenge. The Royals began their 2024-25 season with a 90-39 victory on Monday night over NCAA D-III opposition Lynchburg out of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The matchup with the Royals will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network and live stats available on 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).
 
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