Cullowhee, N.C. – Senior Bernard Pelote tallied a team-best 22 points for his fourth-straight double-digit scoring effort, but Samford used a 17-to-4 run out of the halftime locker room to pull away and down Western Carolina 88-69 in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.

Pelote posted his second 20+ point performance of the season coming within his last three outings, making 9-of-13 field goals, including four 3-pointers as he opened the day 4-for-4 from deep. Redshirt sophomore Cord Stansberry added his seasonal average with 11 points along with a pair of steals and freshman CJ Hyland rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers with 10 points. Hyland added three assists and a pair of steals. Junior Brandon Morgan had a team-high six rebounds and tied Hyland with three helpers, while classmate Vernon Collins had five offensive boards for WCU.

Jaden Brownell, who sparked Samford at the start of the second half, led three Bulldogs in double-figures with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting with three 3-pointers. Trey Fort posted 18 points, going 6-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Hamed Olayinka rounded out the double-digit point performers with 12 points in 13 minutes, going a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Collin Holloway led the Bulldogs on the glass with six rebounds and Rylan Jones had six assists and three steals in the win.

Samford (12-3, 2-0 SoCon) opened the contest with six of the game's first eight points to jump to the early lead before an 11-5 answer from the Catamounts that included a pair of threes from Pelote. The push staked WCU to a 13-11 lead just six minutes into the action. The guests quickly tied it up before back-to-back triples from Pelote allowed WCU to take its largest lead of the contest at 19-13 just 51 seconds later.

Down two possessions, the Bulldogs responded with a 14-3 burst over the next five minutes to take a five-point advantage, 27-22, before an 8-4 answer from WCU saw the margin whittled to just one, 31-30, with 4:56 to play in the half. Samford closed the opening 20 minutes on a 13-4 run including a running floater in the lane at the buzzer to take its largest lead of the half at 10, 44-34 to the locker room.

Pelote opened the second half with a pair of early buckets for the Catamounts, but Brownell triples helped the Bulldogs carry their momentum from the end of the half into the second 20 minutes to spark a 19-to-6 run to stretch the advantage to 21, 63-42. WCU responded with a 9-4 burst to cut into Samford's lead, but back-to-back threes quickly ran the deficit to 22, 73-51 with 10:53 to play.

Hyland scored five-straight points for WCU to cut the margin to 18, 74-56 in a 27-second timespan, but Samford responded once again with the game's following eight points to balloon the advantage to a game-high 26, 82-56 with 7:20 to play. WCU continued to fight down the stretch with a 13-6 run over the final six minutes, but the Bulldogs held on for the 88-69 SoCon win.

Western Carolina posted 39.3% (24-of-61) from the floor with 11 3-pointers including eight in the first half. The Catamounts connected on 10-of-14 (71.4%) from the free throw stripe. Samford finished shooting 52.8% (28-of-53) from the field and connected on 10 threes at a 40% success rate. In the win, the Bulldogs converted 22-of-27 (81.5%) from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs held a slight edge on the glass by two, 34-32, with the Catamounts pulling down 15 offensive rebounds in the defeat. WCU turned it over 20 times on Saturday, while Samford had 17 turnovers, resulting in 17 points for Western Carolina and 21 points for the Bulldogs. Samford held a 36-24 advantage in points in the paint, while Western Carolina led 19-11 in second-chance points. The Bulldogs outscored the Catamounts by 12, 17-5 in fast breaks and 12, 29-17 in bench scoring.

Western Carolina (4-9, 0-2 SoCon) hits the road for the first time in the 2025 calendar year with a trip to Spartanburg to battle Wofford on Wednesday, Jan. 8, from Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Tip-off between the Catamounts and Terriers is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday's game will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network available on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva and streaming LIVE through CatamountSports.com. Live stats are also available on CatamountSports.com. 

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