Cullowhee, N.C. – Marcus Kell capped Western Carolina's 13-point second-half comeback, handing the Catamounts a two-point lead at 71-69 with a layup with 70 seconds remaining in Saturday afternoon's Southern Conference rematch with VMI on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. However, including a game-tying deuce that forced overtime, the Keydets scored 11 of the game's final 16 points as VMI escaped with an 80-76 league win.
The Catamounts clawed back to knot the score at 69 with just under two minutes remaining in regulation before Kell's layup on a feed from Ice Emery handed the Catamounts a two-point lead with 1:10 showing on the game clock. Just 22 seconds later, Augustinas Kiudulas tied the game with neither squad able to find the bottom of the basket before the final horn.
In the extra session, both teams managed to take a two-point edge before Rickey Bradley Jr., tied the game for the final time on a pair of free throws. AJ Clark made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to push the Keydets in front inside the final 20 seconds with the Catamounts missing a layup inside of five seconds showing as VMI earned its second-straight win over WCU.
Senior Bernard Pelote scored 21 of his career-high tying 27 points in the first half to lead the Catamounts, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. The Savannah, Ga., product had the hot-hand early, finishing with five made 3-pointers in his sixth 20-point performance of the season, five coming in SoCon play. Redshirt sophomore Cord Stansberry totaled 18 points on an impressive 6-of-7 shooting from deep while pulling down a career-high tying seven rebounds.
Kell added 11 points, eight rebounds, and a career-best tying three blocked shots. Junior guard Brandon Morgan and post Vernon Collins both crashed the boards with six apiece as Morgan added seven points and four assists. Junior Ice Emery dished out a season-high six assists to pace the Catamounts and added a pair of steals.
Bradley Jr. scored 23 points to lead a balanced scoring attack as five Keydets reached double figures. He added eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals in a busy stat line. Kiudulas finished with 21 points with a team-high tying eight rebounds and a pair of assists. TJ Johnson scored 16 on four made 3-pointers and six rebounds, while Tan Yildizoglu had 10 points, five rebounds, and a team-high five assists.
After the Keydets got the opening two points, Pelote and Stansberry connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly give WCU a 6-2 lead. VMI answered, though, with an 11-4 run over the ensuing four minutes to take a 13-10 lead with 12:13 to play in the half.
WCU then outscored VMI 16-to-9 that included 11 of his half-high 21 points from Pelote to push the Catamounts to a 26-22 lead with 5:23 to play in the opening stanza. VMI again answered the spurt with five straight points to inch in front by one, 27-26. After a Stansberry triple allowed the Catamounts to inch back in front, VMI closed with a 10-5 run to take a 37-34 lead to the break.
VMI (11-12, 5-5 SoCon) carried its halftime momentum out of the locker room, blitzing WCU by scoring the first 10 points of the second half to stretch the lead to 13, 47-34 just four minutes into the frame. The Catamounts were able to stem the tide and quickly thwart the momentum with eight straight between Kell and Morgan before back-to-back threes ballooned VMI's lead to 11, 53-42 with 12:17 to play.
The Catamounts continued to claw back in the second half with a 10-4 burst, seeing the deficit cut to five, 57-52, before the Keydets had another answer with four quick free throws to retake a nine-point edge. WCU then scored 14 of the next 20 points including three triples from Stansberry to cut the guests lead to one, 67-66, inside the final two minutes. VMI converted back-to-back free throws before the Catamounts regained the advantage on a 5-0 burst with a three from Morgan followed by a layup from Kell.
The Keydets converted the last bucket of regulation after neither team could score on their final possession to force the extra session. WCU jumped out to the two-point lead three minutes in before the Keydets used the charity stripe to close on a 7-1 run and claim the four-point overtime triumph.
The Catamounts finished with a 40.9% (27-of-66) shooting performance from the floor, including a season-high 15 threes, coming at a season-best clip of 41.7%. WCU also buried 7-of-11 (63.6%) of its free throws. VMI went 25-of-61 (41%) from the floor, burying 12 threes at a 36.4% rate, and were 18-of-22 (81.8%) at the charity stripe.
WCU won the battle on the glass by eight, 44-36, including 10 offensive boards that turned into 11 second-chance points. VMI turned the Catamounts over 14 times that became 21 points for the Keydets, compared to nine turnovers for the guests, which WCU converted into 11 points. As most of the scoring came from each team's starting five, WCU outscored VMI 18-7 off the bench and 14-8 in fast breaks. The guests had a tight advantage in the battle in the paint, scoring 24-22.
Overall, Saturday's game featured 20 lead changes and was tied nine times. The Keydets held the only double-digit leads on Saturday, at a combined three minutes over the course of the second 20 minutes, before the Catamounts made their march back.
Western Carolina (6-15, 2-8 SoCon) hits the road on Wednesday, Feb. 5, for a trip to Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., the temporary home of the Furman Paladins, to battle the chromatic rivals. Wednesday's game with the Paladins is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network available online at CatamountSports.com and on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva. Live stats are also available via a link on CatamountSports.com.
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