UNCG - Western Carolina Box Score
Box Score
GREENSBORO, NC – Freshman forward Kyle Hines recorded his conference-leading seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds as UNC Greensboro won its ninth consecutive game at Fleming Gymnasium, 66-54, over Western Carolina in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday night.
The win was also the 50th at home for UNCG coach Fran McCaffery. The Spartans are now 50-13 at Fleming Gymnasium in five-plus seasons under McCaffery.
“When you get into a game like this, you have to try to create scoring opportunities,” said McCaffery. “We tried to drive the ball to the basket more and get to the foul line. We wanted to get Kyle and Ronnie Burrell involved and we did that to get our offense going.”
UNCG, which is now 7-0 this season when holding opponents under 70 points and have won 13 straight when doing so dating back to last December, jumped all over the Catamounts (5-13, 0-5) early. Western Carolina made its first shot of the game, a layup by Corey Muirhead at 19:27, and then proceeded to miss its next 16 shots from the field. The Catamounts also committed six turnovers during a 10:02 scoreless span. It wasn't until the 9:25 mark when David Berghoefer made a lay-up that Western Carolina scored again. Before that, UNCG had scored 15 unanswered points.
Western Carolina closed to within seven with an 8-2 run, but UNCG scored 11 of the final 16 points of the half to take a 13-point lead into the locker room.
UNCG (10-5, 3-1 SoCon) took control midway through the second half and opened its largest lead of the game. Leading 36-24, the Spartans went on a 13-5 run, capped off by Josh Gross' three-pointer, to give UNCG a 49-29 advantage.
The Catamounts went on a run late to make things interesting. Trailing by 18 with 3:08 to go, Western scored nine of the next 12 points to close to within 12 with 1:09 to play. But UNCG made 4-of-6 at the line in the final minute and Hines added a dunk to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Along with Hines' third 20-point game of the season, Burrell added 11 points and Ray Bristow, who moved back into the starting line-up for the first time since November, chipped in 14 points and three steals. Hines, the No. 2 shot blocker in the nation, had four blocked shots on Saturday night to give him 60 blocked shots on the season. The UNCG single-season record for blocks is 68 held by Eric Cuthrell (1994-95). Hines is only the second Spartan in UNCG's Division I era to block 60 shots in a season.
Western Carolina had two players with double-doubles. David Berghoefer led the Catamounts 17 points and 12 rebounds. Corey Muirhead chipped in with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Rans Brempong, the Southern Conference career blocked shot leader, tied a school-record with seven blocks.
The Spartans will host East Tennessee State on Tuesday night at Fleming Gymnasium beginning at 7 pm.
AGATE
WESTERN CAROLINA (5-13, 0-5)
Berghoefer, 8-18 1-3 17; Muirhead, 4-10 2-4 10; Russell, 4-8 0-2 10; Outing, 2-7 1-1 5; McKenna, 2-4 0-0 5; Woodyard, 1-6 1-2 3; Brempong, Rans 1-5 0-0 2; Hopkins, 1-5 0-0 2; Greathouse, 0-5 0-0 0; Nlandu, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-69 5-12 54.
UNC GREENSBORO (10-5, 3-1)
Hines, 7-13 6-9 20; Bristow, 4-11 4-4 14; Burrell, 4-9 3-6 11; Hickman, 2-10 4-7 8; Gross, 2-4 0-0 5; Everette, 1-4 2-2 4; Oleksiak, 1-10 0-0 3; Johnson, 0-0 1-2 1; Beckford, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 20-30 66.
Halftime: UNCG, 28-15. 3-point goals-Western Carolina 3-14 (Russell, 2-4; McKenna, 1-1; Woodyard, 0-3; Hopkins, 0-2; Greathouse, 0-2; Muirhead, 0-2), UNC Greensboro 4-19 (Bristow, 2-6; Gross, 1-2; Oleksiak, 1-5; Hickman, 0-5; Burrell, 0-1). Fouled out--Western Carolina-Brempong, , UNC Greensboro-None. Rebounds-Western Carolina 48 (Berghoefer, 12), UNC Greensboro 49 (Hines, 12). Assists-Western Carolina 9 (Berghoefer, 3), UNC Greensboro 9 (Hickman, 3). Total fouls-Western Carolina 25, UNC Greensboro 17. Att: 1050
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