CULLOWHEE, NC – Western Carolina jumped out to an early 11-point lead and held on as the Catamounts defeated UNC Greensboro, 67-53, in Southern Conference men's basketball action.
UNCG's Kyle Hines led all scorers with 21 points and broke the school's Division I era single-season scoring record. He surpassed Jay Joseph's mark of 477 points in 2002-03. The sophomore from Sicklerville, NJ, now has 490 points this season. Only four players in school history have ever scored 500 points in a season.
Junior guard Ricky Hickman, who scored all 16 of his points in the first half, now has 25 straight games in double figures, one shy of the UNCG school record set by Robert Bryant in 1985-86.
Hines also extended his string of consecutive games in double figures. His streak now stands at 17 consecutive games, tied for the seventh-longest in school history.
Antonio Russell had 17 points to lead Western Carolina (13-15, 7-6). Corey Muirhead chipped in 16 points and Kyle Greathouse added 13 points.
UNCG (11-16, 4-8) played without sophomore guards Kevin Oleksiak and Dwayne Johnson. Oleksiak missed his second straight game due to a groin injury, while Johnson was benched for violation of team rules. They were replaced in the lineup for most of the night by Marc Campbell and Donald Moore.
“Donald and Marc played with a lot of heart and gave us a spark,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “We got to the line tonight and didn't make free throws. We also didn't come up with the loose balls. (The loss) was a result of those two factors.”
Back to back three-pointers by McKenna and Greathouse gave Western Carolina an early 10-4 lead. The margin hit 11 after 3-pointer by Greathouse and Russell made it a 16-5 lead a little more than six minutes into the contest.
After cutting into the lead once and seeing it expand again, UNCG cut the lead to seven with 4:31 left in the first half. Hickman scored on a put-back to cut it to 30-23. The margin hovered around there through the remainder of the half as the Catamounts took a 39-32 lead into the locker room.
Where Hickman was a good chunk of UNCG's offense in the first half, Hines was in the second half. Hines scored UNCG's first 10 points of the second half, but UNCG couldn't get the margin under seven. For the half, UNCG had eight field goals with Hines accounting for six of them.
UNCG's efforts were also hurt by shooting just 7-of-20 from the free throw line. UNCG was also outrebounded 35-26.
UNCG returns to action on Thursday when it travels to Appalachian State for a 7 pm contest. The winner of that game will wrap-up a spot in the SoCon Tournament's Nos. 8-9 first round game, while the loser will be the tournament's No. 10 seed.
SIDELINES: Oleksiak suffered his groin injury last Thursday and did not make the trip to St. Peter's, snapping a streak of 54 consecutive games played. The sophomore from Abington, PA, made the trip to Cullowhee, but remained on the bench in plain clothes... Hickman extended his streak of games with a three-pointer to 23 straight with a trey midway through the first half. That is the tied for the third-longest string in UNCG history... Western Carolina's David Berghoeffer was ejected with five minutes left after throwing a forearm at UNCG's Matt Akinosho during a held ball. Berghoeffer was assessed a flagrant technical and disqualified.
AGATE
WESTERN CAROLINA 67, UNC GREENSBORO 53
UNC GREENSBORO (11-16, 4-8)
HINES, Kyle 9-11 3-10 21; HICKMAN, Ricky 6-13 2-5 16; CAMPBELL, Marc 3-5 0-0 8; McCLENNY, David 2-7 0-0 4; SIMMONS, Everson 1-9 1-3 3; TOOMS, Bart 0-2 1-2 1; MOORE, Donald 0-3 0-0 0; BECKFORD, Brian 0-0 0-0 0; AKINOSHO, Matt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 7-20 53.
WESTERN CAROLINA (13-15, 7-6)
RUSSELL, Antonio 6-12 3-5 17; MUIRHEAD, Corey 7-11 2-4 16; GREATHOUSE, Kyle 3-8 4-4 13; BERGHOEFER, David 4-7 0-0 8; McKENNA, Negus 2-6 2-2 7; OUTING, Jared 2-3 2-3 6; JOHNSON, Stan 0-0 0-0 0; WILSON, Eric 0-3 0-0 0; HOPKINS, Trey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 13-18 67.
Halftime: Western Carolina, 39-32. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 4-18 (HICKMAN, Ricky 2-5; CAMPBELL, Marc 2-4; SIMMONS, Everson 0-4; MOORE, Donald 0-2; McCLENNY, David 0-3), Western Carolina 6-19 (GREATHOUSE, Kyle 3-6; RUSSELL, Antonio 2-5; McKENNA, Negus 1-5; WILSON, Eric 0-2; MUIRHEAD, Corey 0-1). Fouled out-UNC Greensboro-None, Western Carolina-None. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 26 (HINES, Kyle 7), Western Carolina 35 (McKENNA, Negus 8). Assists-UNC Greensboro 10 (MOORE, Donald 4), Western Carolina 12 (MUIRHEAD, Corey 3; McKENNA, Negus 3). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 15, Western Carolina 17. A-1478
- UNCG -
