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Hot-shooting Spartans gun down Catamounts
UNC-Greensboro shot 61 percent from the floor, including 66.7 percent in the second half, to defeat Western Carolina 78-65 Monday in Southern Conference basketball action at UNC-G's Fleming Gym.
Ronnie Burrell scored 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds while Jay Joseph netted 20 points before a crowd of 1,066. Burrell made eight of 10 shots from the floor, and Joseph was seven of 10.
Corey Muirhead paced the Catamounts (12-14, 5-10) with 17 points and seven rebounds. Kevin Martin and Kyle Greathouse finished with 13 and 10, respectively.
Muirhead hit the game's first basket, but that would be WCU's lone lead of the night.
Burrell's three-pointer capped an 8-1 spurt giving the Spartans an 8-3 advantage with 17:15 on the clock.
The biggest lead of the half was 23-15 after Ricky Hickman's trey at the 6:12 mark.
UNC-G was up 34-31 at intermission.
The Spartans broke the game open with 11 straight points, including five by Joseph, for a 68-42 lead after two Burrell free throws with 7:19 to play.
Both teams had 26 rebounds.
The Cats made only 41 percent of their field goal tries.
They did take excellent care of the basketball committing just seven turnovers while the Spartans had 11.
Completing the WCU scoring were Alex Osipovitch with eight, Jared Outing with six, David Berghoefer and Terrence Woodyard with four each and Emre Atsur with three.
Western will end the regular season Saturday with a 7 p.m. home game against Appalachian State.
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