Martin, Muirhead lead Cats to league win over Wofford

Kevin Martin scored 25 points, and Corey Muirhead added 21 Monday leading Western Carolina to an 86-77 Southern Conference victory over Wofford before 1,507 fans at the Ramsey Center.

Rans Brempong contributed 14 points and eight rebounds for the Catamounts (9-17, 6-9).

Wofford's Lee Nixon led all scorers with 26 points, and Adrien Borders had 16.

With Martin and Muirhead both scoring four, the Cats broke to a 12-2 lead on Kori Hatcher's layup at the 16:05 mark.

Fueled by a four-point play from Borders, the Terriers used a 10-2 spurt to take a 19-18 edge on Tyler Berg's dunk with 10:01 on the clock.

Muirhead answered with a layup as WCU went ahead for good, 20-19, at the 9:40 mark.

The Cats opened a 38-29 advantage on Martin's trey with 3:44 remaining, and they were up 41-35 at intermission.

Wofford closed within 58-57 on a Sam Daniels jumper at the 9:45 mark.

The Cats shot 50 percent from the floor, including 56 percent in the second half. Wofford made 45.3 percent of its field goal tries.

Western held a 36-31 rebounding advantage. Daniels and Mike Lenzly led the Terriers with five boards apiece.

WCU hit 22 of 29 free throws while Wofford made 10 of 11.

The Terriers committed 15 turnovers, and Western had 12.

Completing the WCU scoring were Hatcher with nine, Emre Atsur and Alex Osipovitch with six apiece, L.T. Lockett with three and David Berghoeffer with two.

Ryan Lawson and Tim Smith scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, leading East Tennessee to an 89-86 conference victory Saturday over WCU in front of 2,249 Ramsey Center fans. Also in double figures for the Buccaneers were Zakee Wadood with 16 and Jerald Fields with 10.

Muirhead connected on 10 of 11 field goals en route to 23 points. Martin followed with 19 while Brempong and Hatcher both netted 12.

The Bucs held a 55-45 lead on Smith's layup with 17:38 to play.

Two Martin treys and a pair of Muirhead dunks accounted for all the points in a 10-2 spurt and put the Cats up 64-63 at the 10:09 mark. They were in front 72-71 on a Muirhead layup with 6:27 remaining.

Wadood scored his teams next nine points, and Fields hit a free throw capping a 10-2 run making it 81-74 with 1:43 on the clock.

Western fought back and closed within 89-86 on two Martin free throws with eight seconds left.

Fields missed two foul shots with three seconds to go, but a desperation heave came up short as time expired.

Western controlled most of the first half with the biggest lead 29-18 on a Brempong layup with 8:28 remaining.

Lawson's seven points sparked an 11-2 spurt giving ETSU its first lead, 37-35, at the 2:56 mark

Martin's two foul shots put the Cats back in front, 38-37, with 2:20 on the clock.

Brad Nuckles had four points as the Bucs outscored WCU 9-2 down the stretch for a 46-40 lead at intermission.

Western lost despite shooting 57.4 percent from the field compared to 51.9 percent by ETSU. The Bucs had a 31-27 rebounding edge. Wadood and Brempong led their teams with seven boards apiece.

Each team had 19 turnovers.

Completing the WCU scoring were Atsur with nine, Osipovitch and Lockett both with four and Jared Outing with three.

Hatcher dished out eight assists to go with three steals.

Western will conclude the regular season at home Saturday with a 7 p.m. game against Chattanooga.

Back to Sports: 02/27/03.