Strong First Half Pushes Western Carolina Past Davidson

Calendar

No Upcoming Events

Box score
Bob McKillop Postgame Interview

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson nearly erased a 24-point second half deficit, coming within four points late, but Western Carolina hung on to take a 77-67 victory in Southern Conference men's basketball action Wednesday night in Belk Arena.

Jake Robinson led four double-digit scorers for Western Carolina (15-3, 5-1 SoCon) with 20 points, going 6-for-9 from the field and hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers, while adding an assist and a rebound. Brandon Giles scored 19 and led the Catamounts with eight rebounds, all on defense. Harouna Mutombo scored 12 points, going 5-for-8 from the field and hitting 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Mike Williams added 11 points.

For the Wildcats (8-11, 3-4 SoCon), Ben Allison led three scorers in double figures with a career-high 15 points, while adding eight rebounds and an assist. Brendan McKillop scored 13 points, while JP Kuhlman had 11 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Steve Rossiter led the 'Cats on the boards with 10 rebounds to give him 507 for his career. Archambault was also strong rebounding, pulling in eight boards and scoring nine points, all in the second half.

Down 48-24 1:49 into the second half, Davidson used a 16-2 run to cut the lead to 10 by the 14:11 mark. Western Carolina maintained the double-digit cushion, taking a 60-47 lead after Robinson sank a 3-pointer with 7:36 to go until Davidson went on a 9-0 spurt to cut the lead to just four with 5:43 remaining.

That was as close as the 'Cats would come as they turned the ball over four times in the final three minutes of play. Robinson sank 4-of-4 free throw attempts and sank a three-ball to help put the game out of reach.

Western Carolina took a 22-point lead into the locker room at halftime after hitting 63 percent of their shots from the field and 6-of-11 from behind the arc, while the 'Cats hit just 14.8 percent from the field and missed all 11 3-point attempts.

Davidson improved from the field in the second half, shooting 56 percent, while Western Carolina shot just 30.8 percent. The Catamounts finished shooting 47.2 percent, while sinking 9-of-19 three-point attempts. The Wildcats shot 34.2 percent for the game, going 6-for-26 from behind the arc.

Notes: The loss snapped a five-game winning streak against Western Carolina … Kuhlman has scored in double-figures in each of the last six games … Rossiter now needs just seven points to become the 30th Davidson player to tally 500 points and 500 rebounds… Bryant Barr needs 25 points to reach 700 for his career … The game was the first this season with students on campus as the previous seven were during holiday breaks.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results