Cullowhee, N.C. – Julien Soumaoro led four Catamounts in double figures with 17 points, but Western Carolina men's basketball was unable to overcome 16 made 3-pointers and a hot-shooting second half from Chattanooga as the visiting Mocs picked up a 90-82 Southern Conference victory on Saturday afternoon on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.

After leading by as many as 16 in the opening 20 minutes, the Catamounts retook a 75-72 lead with 9:11 to play before the Mocs put together a 12-to-3 run over the ensuing six minutes to take a six-point lead, 84-78, and held on down the stretch for their third-straight SoCon win.

Soumaoro reached double figures for the 11th time this season with 17 points, finishing with six field goals, including a pair of threes, and adding four rebounds along with a steal to his stat line. Redshirt junior Cord Stansberry added 14 points, going 5-of-6 at the foul line. Sophomore Justin Johnson and redshirt junior Marcus Kell rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points apiece. Both were efficient from the field as Johnson made 5-of-7 FG and Kell connected on 4-of-6, all coming in the second half.

Freshman Tahlan Pettway added nine points with three from beyond the arc, marking his best offensive performance in SoCon play. Freshman Samuel Dada led the Catamounts on the glass with seven rebounds, followed by six boards from Kell as he also dished out a team-best five assists. Graduate transfer Tidjiane Dioumassi added four assists.

Jordan Frison led Chattanooga (9-10, 3-3 SoCon) with a game-high 19 points, including five field goals with a pair of 3-pointers, as he buried all seven of his free throws. Collin Mulholland added 16 points off the bench with four threes. A quartet of Mocs added 10 each, including Tate Darner, Brennan Watkins, Jikari Johnson, and Billy Smith. Watkins led UTC on the glass with seven boards as Darner, Watkins, and Teddy Washington Jr. each had three assists.

The Catamounts started strong with a 15-5 run over the opening five minutes as the hosts buried 7-of-10 shots, led by five from Soumaoro and four from Dioumassi to gain the early lead. Following back-to-back threes from UTC, the Purple & Gold responded with 11 unanswered to stretch the lead to 15, 26-11 with 9:30 to play in the half.

Chattanooga chipped away again at the deficit with five quick points before a 10-4 WCU run saw the lead swell to a game-high 16, 36-20 with 5:15 to play in the half. However, over the final five minutes, UTC finished by outscoring the Catamounts 17-6 to cut the deficit to five, 42-37 at intermission.

The Mocs continued their offensive pressure to open the second half with a 12-1 burst to take their first lead of the afternoon and pushed the advantage to six, 49-43, just four minutes into the second half. WCU answered the early onslaught from Chattanooga with a 10-3 spurt of their own to take a 53-52 lead back with 14:53 to play in regulation.

Over the next three minutes, both teams went electric from the floor shooting the basketball, as the game saw nine lead changes, as everyone connected on shots to quickly send the score to 66 all with 11:29 to play. A 6-2 run from Chattanooga pushed it to a four-point game, 72-68, before freshman Tayeshaun Smith, Dioumassi and sophomore transfer Abdulai Fanta Kabba scored the game's next seven points to give the Catamounts the three-point edge, 75-72, with nine minutes to play.

Like what the Mocs did on Wednesday night in their rally at Wofford, Chattanooga put together an 18-7 run over the final eight minutes to jump back in front and pull away down the stretch for the 90-82 SoCon victory.

Western Carolina shot 45.5 percent (30-of-66) from the floor, as the Catamounts buried nine threes, while making 13-of-21 free throws. Chattanooga finished at 52.8% (28-of-53) shooting, as the guests made 18-of-28 (64.3%) field goals in the second 20 minutes to flip the scoreboard in the winning effort. UTC also buried 16 threes, making 10-of-15 (66.7%) in the second half. The Mocs were near perfect from the stripe, finishing 18-of-19 on free throws (94.7%).

WCU won the rebounding battle for the 10th time this season at a 35-30 advantage with a sizeable 16-5 lead in offensive rebounding. The Catamounts held a 32-22 advantage in paint scoring, along with a 13-7 lead in second-chance scoring. Both sides took care of the basketball on Saturday, as WCU had just six giveaways that turned into seven points for the Mocs, and UTC had seven turnovers that became 10 points for the home side.

Western Carolina (6-11, 2-4 SoCon) hits the road for a midweek trip to the Peach State for a matchup against Mercer (12-7, 4-2 SoCon) on Wednesday, Jan. 21, in Macon, Ga. The action with the Bears is slated for a 7 p.m. start and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), as live stats will be available online on CatamountSports.com.

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