Western Carolina Catamount Sports............All Catamount Sports............All the time.
Wednesday night, the Citadel Bulldogs mounted a furious second-half comeback, that combined with a slow-down by the Catamounts to eat time off the clock, resulted in a 66-68 victory by the Bulldogs.
The Cats led 66-64 with 16 seconds on the clock and put the ball in play with Cameron Bacote throwing the ball into Nicholas Robinson who was immediately double-teamed and trapped in the corner. Then the Citadels' Rudy Fitzgibbone who was behind Robinson, reached around Robinson with both arms (essentially a hear hug from behind, lifting Robinson off the floor), and the official rather than calling a foul on Fitzgibbone, called a jump ball, and the alternate possession arrow game the ball to the Citadel.
The Citadel put the ball in play and Brown was able to make a layup tying the game, and a foul was called (a review of the tape shows no one touched Brown as he shot).
Great officials that the SoCon hires...
The Bears used a 14-4 run in the final minutes of the game to pull out a 72-64 win over the Catamounts in Hawkins Arena on Saturday evening. WCU falls to 8-12overall and 2-5 in conference play, while the Bears improve 12-8 overall and 5-2
Nicholas Robinson put up a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while teammate Joe Petrakis scored a career-high 20 points to lead all scoring in the game. Four Catamounts scored double digits, along with Petrakis' 20 points, Cameron Bacote posted 14 points, while Nicholas Robinson and Vonterius Woolbright both scored 11 points apiece.
WCU finished the game 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) from the field, 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) on 3-point attempts, and 9-for-15 (60 percent) at the free-throw line., while the Bears were 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field, 9-for-26 (34.6 percent) behind the arc, and 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) at the free-throw line.
The Bears scored 8 points off the 10 turnovers by the Catamounts, while the Cats scored 6 points off the 6 turnovers by the Bears. Two glaring stats that hurt the Cats were 32 points scored in the paint by the Bears (Western scored 22 in the paint) and 18 bench points scored by Mercer, while the Cats had no bench points.
The Catamounts conclude their three-game road trip Wednesday in Charleston against The Citadel in a 7 p.m. tip-off. The Cats are 16-21 overall in games played in Charleston
