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Western drops two of three as basketball season opens
Western Carolina’s men’s basketball team opened its season by losing two of three games in the National Basketball Coaches Association Classic hosted by Virginia Tech.
WCU 56 Bowling Green 50
Antonio Russell scored 21 points while Corey Muirhead had 12 points and 15 rebounds as Western Carolina’s began the season last Thursday with a 56-50 win over Bowling Green.
It was the Catamounts’ first season-opening win over a Division I opponent since they downed Georgia Tech in 1980.
Matt Leland paced the Falcons with 14 points. Martin Samarco added 12, and John Floyd had 10.
Western built an 18-point lead with a little more than eight minutes to play but barely held on for the win.
The Cats appeared to have the game well in hand when Russell made a free throw for a 49-31 advantage with 8:13 on the clock.
Western went cold, and Bowling Green turned up the heat over the next several minutes. The result was a 19-3 run, including eight by Samarco, cutting the gap to 52-50 at the 1:32 mark.
Kyle Greathouse made one of two free throws two seconds later, and Trey Hopkins hit two foul shots with 56 seconds to go putting the Cats back in control.
Russell scored WCU’s first nine points, including a four-point play to open the scoring, for a 9-2 advantage with 15:28 to go in the half.
The Cats were up 31-18 at intermission.
Both teams struggled with their shooting. Bowling Green made 36.5 percent of its field goal tries while holding Western to just 28.9 percent.
The winning margin was built at the foul line where the Cats were 27 of 42 and the Falcons were eight of 17.
WCU had a 41-34 rebounding advantage. Leland and Erik Marshall led Bowling Green with six apiece.
The Cats committed 19 turnovers, and the Falcons had 17.
Completing the WCU scoring were Greathouse with seven, David Berghoefer with six, Hopkins with five, Jared Outing with three and Stan Johnson with two.
Radford 69 WCU 56
Chris Oliver poured in 29 points Saturday leading Radford to a 69-56 win over Western Carolina.
Whit Faye-Holcombe added 18 points for the Highlanders, and Reggie McIntyre had 12.
Antonio Russell and Negus McKenna paced the Catamounts with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Oliver and McIntyre both had four points in a 14-2 spurt for a 16-6 Radford lead with 8:36 to go in the half.
The margin was 29-18 at intermission.
The Cats cut the gap to 31-27 on Eric Wilson’s three-pointer with 14:43 to play in the game.
Oliver erupted for 10 points in a 16-2 run as Radford regained control at 47-28 with 10:40 on the clock.
The game’s biggest lead was 56-35 on Oliver’s layup at the 6:46 mark.
The Highlanders made 45.8 percent of their field goal attempts while WCU hit 35.3 percent.
The Cats held a 31-28 rebounding edge as Jared Outing and David Berghoefer pulled down five apiece. Dan Ross topped Radford with eight.
Western committed 22 turnovers, and the Highlanders had 15.
Completing the WCU scoring were Outing and Trey Hopkins with seven apiece, Berghoefer and Wilson both with six, and Stan Johnson and Corey Muirhead both with four.
Virginia Tech 54 WCU 40
Virginia Tech overcame horrendous shooting in the first half Sunday to take a 54-40 win from Western Carolina.
The Hokies made just three of 18 field goals (16.7 percent) in the first half but warmed up after intermission to finish at 32.6 percent.
Western shot 36.8 percent from the floor.
Markus Sailes led VPI with 13 points. Also in double figures were Jamon Gordon with 11 and Zabian Dowdell and Deron Washington with 10 apiece.
David Berghoefer led WCU with 11 points.
Western opened a 14-6 advantage on Corey Muirhead’s three-pointer with 7:58 to play in the half.
Coleman Collins had four points in a 12-2 spurt as Tech went up 18-16 with 3:04 on the clock.
Negus McKenna’s three-pointer gave the Catamounts a 21-18 edge with 29 seconds left, and they led 23-20 at halftime.
The Hokies scored the first nine points after intermission to take the lead for good, 29-23, on Dowdell’s layup with 16:22 to play.
They used an 11-2 run to put the game away and gain a 52-36 advantage at the 1:23 mark.
Gordon’s 10 rebounds helped Tech to a 33-27 edge on the boards.
Western committed 17 turnovers, and the Hokies had 11.
Completing the WCU scoring were Jared Outing with eight, McKenna with seven, Corey Muirhead with six, Antonio Russell with five and Trey Hopkins with three.
Western will make its home debut Friday when South Carolina visits the Ramsey Center for a 6 p.m. game.
The Cats will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to meet Northern Iowa at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and return home for a 7 p.m. game Tuesday against Atlanta Christian.
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