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Western Carolina loses games to Alabama, South Carolina
Western Carolina's men's basketball teams lost a pair of recent road games to Southeastern Conference opponents.
Alabama blitzed the Catamounts 97-66 Nov. 19, and South Carolina took control in the second half for an 87-61 win Nov. 21.
Alabama
Kennedy Winston scored 24 points leading the Crimson Tide to its win in front of 8,891 fans at Coleman Coliseum. Chuck Davis and Ernest Shelton both had 16 while Jean Felix scored 11.
David Berghoefer paced the Cats with 23 points. Rans Brempong finished with 11, and Corey Muirhead had 10.
Western held brief leads early in the game including 7-5 on Berghoefer's jumper with 16:56 to go in the half.
The Tide went ahead for good with a 14-2 spurt, including five by Davis, for a 22-11 advantage at the 11:55 mark.
Another 14-2 run, which included five by Winston, resulted in a 48-24 margin with 1:19 on the clock.
Alabama was up 49-28 at intermission.
Yet another 14-2 spurt, with Winston again scoring five, put the Tide up 77-43 with 10:57 to go.
The game's biggest lead was 86-47 on a three-pointer by Felix with 8:42 on the clock.
Alabama made 51.5 percent of its field goal tries while holding the Cats to 40.5 percent.
Led by Davis with eight, the Tide won the rebounding battle 46-36. Berghoefer and Muirhead both claimed seven rebounds for Western.
The Tide did an excellent job handing the ball as they had just seven turnovers. Ronald Steele dished out seven assists.
Kyle Greathouse directed the WCU offense with eight assists, but the Cats were hurt by 15 turnovers.
Completing the WCU scoring were Jared Outing with eight, Trey Hopkins with five, Terrence Woodyard with four, Greathouse with three and Antonio Russell with two.
South Carolina
Two days later, a Colonial Center crowd of 5,644 saw the Gamecocks pull away in the second half for their win. Carlos Powell paced a balanced scoring attack with 16 points. Also in double figures were John Gonner with 14 and Tarence Kinsey and Brandon Wallace with 13 apiece.
Muirhead led the Cats with 16 points. Outing and Greathouse both finished with 11 and Berghoefer had 10.
Following a close first half, the Cats were still down just 57-51 when Brempong hit a jumper at the 12:38 mark, but it would be almost eight minutes before they made another field goal.
Meanwhile, the Gamecocks were running off 17 consecutive points, including five by Kinsey, to lead 74-51 with 5:56 on the clock.
The margin reached 82-56 on Dwayne Day's three-pointer at the 2:22 mark.
The first half produced eight ties and four lead changes.
Greathouse scored eight in a 14-2 run for a 29-22 WCU advantage after Muirhead's dunk with 5:42 on the clock.
South Carolina responded with a 12-2 spurt, including five by Wallace, to lead 34-31 at the 1:26 mark.
The Gamecocks were up 37-33 at intermission.
South Carolina shot 50 percent from the floor compared to 41.7 percent by WCU.
Berghoefer's nine rebounds helped the Cats to a 38-30 advantage on the boards. Renaldo Balkman and John Chappell both had five for the Gamecocks.
Western turned the ball over 25 times while USC committed 12 turnovers.
Completing the WCU scoring were Russell with seven, Brempong with four and Hopkins with two.
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