CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Seven Catamounts reached double figures, led by sophomore CJ Hyland with a career-high 19 points, as Western Carolina men's basketball rolled to an Education Day 124-62 victory over Virginia University of Lynchburg on Tuesday on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. With the win, Catamount head coach Tim Craft tallied his 200th career victory as a head coach.
WCU improved to 4-0 in Cullowhee this season as the Catamounts dished out a school-record 33 assists coming on the third-most field goals (54), while tying for second-most rebounds in a single game with 64. The Purple & Gold tallied 10 blocked shots, which is tied for the third-most by a Catamount team in a game.
Returning to the court for the first time since Nov. 13 against Voorhees, Hyland connected on 7-of-10 field goals, including a career-high five 3-pointers. Redshirt junior Marcus Kell added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, and freshman Tayeshaun Smith poured in a career-best 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while adding six rebounds.
Sophomore transfer Abdulai Fanta Kabba recorded his first double-double in a Catamount uniform with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-high five blocks. Graduate transfer Julien Soumaoro finished with 11 points and five assists, while freshman Samuel Dada tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks for new career benchmarks for all three stats. Sophomore transfer Justin Johnson rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Freshman guard Tahlan Pettway, who made his first collegiate start, finished with a game-high 10 assists, marking the first Catamount to reach double-digit assists in a game since March 2, 2024, when Vonterius Woolbright had 10 in a road win over Chattanooga. Tuesday also marked the first time since March 5, 2023, that WCU has had at least two double-doubles.
Playing Tuesday's matchup as an exhibition, the Dragons were led off the bench by Jarek Sasser, who totaled 17 points to accompany a team-high five assists. Zephaniah Williams finished with 14 points and Jacob Newman rounded out the double-figure scoring for VUL with 10 points. Zaquavious Baker led the way with five rebounds as Sasser had five assists.
Western Carolina used a balanced scoring attack to spearhead a 14-to-4 spurt in the first half, led by six points from Kell that turned a two-point deficit, 4-2, into the early lead just past the 15-minute mark of the first half. The Catamounts continued to keep the offense going with four separate 5-to-7-point bursts over the next nine minutes to transform a 10-point lead into a 26-point advantage, 40-14 with 5:11 to play in the half.
The Dragons put together their best offensive push of the half by scoring seven of nine points in a span to cut the deficit to 21, 42-21, before six in a row stretched the lead back to 27. The two teams traded blows down the stretch with Hyland capping his strong first half with a pair of late threes to send the teams to the locker room at 58-32.
Out of intermission, the Catamounts put the pedal to the metal with a 15-2 spurt, including 13 unanswered, to stretch the lead to 39, 73-34 just four minutes into the second half. VUL cut it to 36 but wouldn't be able to get any closer as a 23-7 run over the ensuing five minutes saw the lead swell to 52, 96-44.
WCU took a game-high 64-point lead on a Dada layup with 6:07 to play at 111-47, with the final five minutes seeing the two teams trade blows before the final 124-62.
Western Carolina finished with a season-high 55.1 percent from the field, posting a 25-of-43 (58.1%) in the opening 20 minutes. The Catamounts buried a season-high 14 threes at a 31.8% rate and were just 2-of-4 at the free throw line. The Dragons finished at 33.3% (19-of-57), connecting on five threes at a 20% clip, while making 19-of-24 (79.2%) at the charity stripe.
The Catamounts pulled down a season-high 64 rebounds, including 26 offensive boards, which led to a 37-1 lead in second-chance scoring. The Purple & Gold turned 15 turnovers into 17 points, while the guests forced seven turnovers and scored 10 points. WCU had a 74-29 advantage in bench scoring, led by Hyland's 19 and Smith's 18, as fast-break scoring was 26-15, and paint scoring was 76-22 in favor of the hosts.
Western Carolina (4-4) concludes their nonconference slate with a three-game road swing beginning on Saturday, Dec. 6, with a trip to Spartanburg to battle USC Upstate. The battle with the Spartans is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio from the Catamount Sports Network and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
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