Cats win season final over Samford

WCU freshman - Mike Brown

While keeping one streak in place, the Catamounts ended another and completed the regular season on a high note, defeating Samford on a last second shot by freshman Mike Brown, 56-54 in overtime.  The Cats are now 13-18 overall, and 9-9 in the SoCon.

The Cats leading scorer on the season, Trey Sumler, was held out of the the game by Coach Hunter for an undisclosed reason.  In a pregame interview, Hunter said that it was a "coaches' decision" and that Sumler had not broken any team or university rules, nor was it academic.

Without Sumler in the game, the Cats produced a balanced attack, with three Catamounts in double figures.  Tawaski King and Brandon Boggs lead the Cats with 12 points each, and James Sinclair put up 10 points. Preston Ross scored 9 points on the night.  However, without Sumler, the Cats were considerably below their seasonal scoring average of 70+ points.

While only scoring 4 total points, freshman Mike Brown was the hero on the night.  With the score tied 54-54, and three seconds remaining on the clock at the end of overtime, Brown received the inbound pass from under the Catamount basket and put up the final short jumper.  The ball hit the top of the rim, rolled around, then sat just a second at the back of the rim, as the final buzzer went off, the basketball rolled off and fell into the basket, giving the Cats the win with no time left.

The streak the Cats ended?  A three game conference losing streak.

The streak the Cats kept in place?  Samford has never won in the Ramsey Center.

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