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East Tennessee sweeps pair of basketball games from WCU
East Tennessee's men's and women's basketball teams picked up Southern Conference victories over Western Carolina on Jan. 10.
The men won 76-70 in Cullowhee while the women were 84-68 winners in Johnson City.
Men
The Buccaneers never trailed before of crowd of 1,911 at the Ramsey Center.
Dillion Sneed scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half helping ETSU build a 19-point lead. Tim Smith and Sam Oatman scored 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Antonio Russell led the Catamounts with 19 points. Rans Brempong added 12, and David Berghoefer and Antonio Russell both netted 11.
Sneed had the hot hand early as he scored all but two points in a 10-0 run for a 14-4 lead with 14:14 to go in the half. His seven points sparked a 10-1 spurt extending the margin to 27-10 at the 10:58 mark.
The lead grew to 40-21 after two free throws by Aaron Scott four minutes before intermission.
The Cats finished the half on a 9-2 run, including five by Muirhead, cutting the gap to 42-30.
Russell had nine points in an 11-2 spurt as WCU closed within 60-57 at the 9:43 mark.
Western kept the pressure on and trailed just 70-68 on Berghoefer's layup with 55 seconds left.
Smith converted a three-point play with 30 seconds remaining keeping the Bucs in control.
ETSU shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent in the second half.
The Cats also had a hot shooting second half (64 percent). That wasn't enough to cover a cold-shooting first half, and they finished at 47.3 percent.
WCU had a 32-30 rebounding edge although no one had more than the five by Russell and Berghoefer. Sneed, Smith and James Anthony all had six for the Bucs.
Smith and James directed the ETSU offense with eight and seven assists, respectively. Western's Kyle Greathouse handed out six.
Both teams committed 16 turnovers.
Completing the WCU scoring were Greathouse with six, Terrence Woodyard with five, Jared Outing with four and Negus McKenna with two.
Women
Tiffani Mayes poured in 30 points and claimed 13 rebounds, and the Lady Bucs pulled away at the start of the second half in front of 452 fans at Memorial Center. B.J. Banjo added 18 points while handing out 10 assists.
Shaketia Barnes scored 15 for the Lady Cats, and Sigita Maleraite had 10.
Mayes and Banjo both had six points in a 16-2 run to begin the second half for a 54-31 lead at the 15:57 mark.
The outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way, and ETSU extended the margin to 64-37 with 9:52 on the clock.
The Lady Bucs pulled away from an early tie with a 10-1 run, including four by Mayes, to lead 14-5 with 14:58 left in the half.
They were up 19-8 on Mayes' jumper at the 10:52 mark.
Western went on an 8-2 spurt narrowing the deficit to 19-16 after Teyawna Hardy's jumper with 7:50 on the clock.
ETSU regained control to lead 38-29 at intermission.
The Lady Bucs made 46.3 percent of their field goal tries while holding Western to 35 percent.
They also dominated the boards to the tune of 47-37. Ki-Ki Glass led the Lady Cats with six rebounds.
Each team had 22 turnovers.
Completing the WCU scoring were Jessika Johnson with nine, Glass, Ashley Pellom and Lori Tanner all with seven, Hardy with six, Jennifer Gardner with four, Erin May with two and Chevon Keith with one.
Freshman Leah Barrier, who was averaging 5.6 points in the first 12 games, has left the team.
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