|
Curtis powers Rebels to victory over WCU
Dwayne Curtis scored 21 points and pulled down six rebounds leading Mississippi to a 65-59 win over Western Carolina in a non-conference basketball game on Jan. 3 at Mississippi’s Tad Smith Coliseum.
Clarence Sanders added 15 points for the Rebels, and Todd Abernethy had 14.
Antonio Russell had 17 points for the Catamounts (7-9). David Berghoefer finished with 14 points and seven boards.
Berghoefer and Russell both scored four early points as WCU jumped on top 10-2 in the first five minutes.
The Rebels pulled into a 13-13 tie after two free throws by Sanders at the 11:20 mark.
The Cats responded by going in front 23-17 on two free throws by Corey Muirhead with 7:23 to play in the half.
Curtis’ eight points fueled a 14-1 spurt as Mississippi moved ahead 31-24 with 3:18 on the clock.
The Rebels led 38-29 at intermission.
The game’s biggest lead was 53-41 following a Curtis layup at the 10:14 mark.
Western fought back with 10 straight points, including four each by Russell and Berghoefer. Muirhead’s jumper cut the gap to 53-51 with 4:43 on the clock.
Mississippi pushed the lead back to 61-53 on Sanders’ dunk at the 3:04 mark.
The Cats came back again and trailed 62-59 on Trey Hopkins’ layup with 26 seconds to play.
Sanders made three of four free throws in the closing seconds to secure the win.
The teams shot almost identically from the floor with the Rebels making 46.9 percent of their tries and WCU hitting 46.8 percent.
Mississippi controlled the boards 35-23.
The Rebels turned the ball over 17 times, and Western committed 13 turnovers.
Completing the WCU scoring were Muirhead and Kyle Greathouse both with nine, Jared Outing with five, Eric Wilson with three and Hopkins with two.
|
