GREENSBORO, NC Western Carolina had four players in double figures, led by freshman Harouna Mutombo's 15 points, as the Catamounts defeated UNC Greensboro, 69-56, in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman forward Damian Eargle led UNCG (4-23, 3-15 SoCon) with 17 points and eight rebounds.
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Sean Spooner had four steals in the second half of Saturday's loss to Western Carolina.
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The Catamounts (14-13, 9-8 SoCon) also got 13 points from Brandon Giles and 10 points each from Richie Gordon and Brigham Waginger. Waginger had six assists and six steals.
Western Carolina led wire-to-wire in handing UNCG its fifth straight set-back.
A 21-4 run by Western Carolina got the Catamounts the first sizable advantage of the afternoon for either team. The first 12 minutes of action saw the Catamounts leads throughout, but by no more than six. But Western Carolina held the Spartans without a field goal for the final 10:15 of the first half, scoring 16 straight points at one point, to take a 39-20 lead into the intermission.
During the Spartans longest drought of the season, UNCG was 0-for-12 from the field, and committed six turnovers.
The Spartans went to a younger line-up in the second half going with three freshmen and two walk-ons for much of the second half and held their own. The Spartans outscored the Catamounts, 36-30, in the second half. UNCG also had a 20-18 advantage in rebounding. A fitting ending to the Spartans' blue collar second half was when Mike Hardiman banked a 23-footer at the buzzer.
After trailing by 19 at the break, the Spartans never fell behind by more than 23 in the second half, despite several key starters not playing more than four minutes after halftime. The final margin of 13 was as close as UNCG got.
UNCG will return to action on Wednesday when it visits Davidson for a 7 pm tip.
AGATE
WESTERN CAROLINA 69, UNCG 56
WESTERN CAROLINA (14-13, 9-8)
Harouna Mutombo 6-9 1-1 15; Brandon Giles 4-13 4-6 13; Richie Gordon 5-9 0-0 10; Brigham Waginger 3-7 1-2 10; Keaton Cole 2-5 2-2 8; Jake Robinson 2-8 0-0 6; Adrian Gailliard 0-4 3-5 3; Greg Avery 1-6 0-2 2; Antoine Childs 1-1 0-0 2; Christian Tonkins 0-2 0-0 0; Blake Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0; Tim Magowan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-65 11-18 69.
UNCG (4-23, 3-15)
Damian Eargle 5-15 7-10 17; DeAngelo Jackson 2-5 3-4 7; Mike Hardiman 2-5 0-2 6; Pete Brown 2-3 2-2 6; Mikko Koivisto 2-7 0-0 5; Kendall Toney 2-10 0-0 4; Elhanan Bone 1-2 2-3 4; Sean Spooner 0-3 3-6 3; Daniel Oliver 1-3 0-0 3; Montel Smith 0-1 1-2 1; Ben Stywall 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 17-55 18-31 56.
Halftime: Western Carolina 39-20. 3-point goals--Western Carolina 10-28 (Brigham Waginger 3-7; Jake Robinson 2-7; Keaton Cole 2-4; Harouna Mutombo 2-3; Brandon Giles 1-5; Tim Magowan 0-1; Greg Avery 0-1), UNCG 4-18 (Mike Hardiman 2-3; Daniel Oliver 1-3; Mikko Koivisto 1-5; Kendall Toney 0-7). Fouled out--Western Carolina-Adrian Gailliard, UNCG-None. Rebounds--Western Carolina 44 (Brigham Waginger 8), UNCG 44 (Damian Eargle 8). Assists--Western Carolina 13 (Brigham Waginger 6), UNCG 5 (Daniel Oliver 2). Total fouls--Western Carolina 21, UNCG 18. Technical fouls--Western Carolina-None, UNCG-Bench. A-895.
FREE THROWS: During halftime on Saturday, 14-year-old Jason Bray was given a gift by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Made possible through fundraising by the Chi Omega sorority at UNCG. A total of $6,200 was raised to grant Jason's wish of meeting NASCAR driver Jimmy Johnson in Las Vegas later this year... After missing 12 in a row to close out the first half, UNCG was 10-of-25 from the floor in the second half... With the loss, UNCG is locked into the No. 6 North seed for the Southern Conference Tournament... It was the seventh time this season UNCG has had more turnovers than field goals... Walk-ons Sean Spooner and Mike Hardiman each played 18 minutes in the second half. Spooner had four steals, while Hardiman knocked down a pair of three-pointers.
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