The Catamounts ended their five game losing streak as they beat the Citadel Bulldogs 92-75 in the final game of the regular season at the Ramsey Center, Sunday afternoon Feb. 25, in a game that was hardly ever close.
Junior forward Mike Amius takes it to forward Derek Webster, Jr. in the paint and scores. Photo taken by Chris Lang. Feb. 25, 2018.
It was senior night for the Catamounts as six players made their final regular season home game appearance. The six seniors combined to score 54 of WCU’s 92 points with three seniors reaching double-figures.
The first 5 minutes were dominated by The Citadel’s three point shooting as they jumped out to an early 22-15 lead with 11 minutes left in the half. After a media timeout, the Cats went on a 34-15 run to close the half to give them a 49-37 lead.
“Honestly thought the Cats were in for a long run when the ‘dogs were hitting every three they looked at, but I’m glad to see they bounced back and closed the half as strong,” said WCU senior, Nate Hedrick.
The second half started and the Cats looked to keep the ball rolling keeping the lead until the end of the game. They reached their largest lead of the game of 19 points in the second half with 16:20 left in the game. Whatever the Bulldogs threw at Western, they were able to respond and carry out the momentum until the end of the game.
The Catamounts had 5 players in double digits. Forward Ashley Williams put up his own fair share with 11 points, while Marc Gosselin added 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Devin Peterson put his own touch to the game with 14 points and Mike Amius racked up 16 points. However, A great way to end senior night was by having senior guard Deriece Parks lead the cats in scoring with 19 points and grabbing 8 boards.
Cats’ senior forward Ashley Williams driving and scoring in heavy traffic. Photo taken by Chris Lang. Feb. 25, 2018.
To shine some light on the Bulldogs’ performance, guard Kaiden Rice had a career night hitting eight three pointers in the game. He nearly brought them back with his hot streak but he cooled off ending the game 0-5 from three point range. He did end the game leading all scorers with 28 points.
“I liked our defense in the first half except against Kaiden Rice ending the half with 17 points”, said coach Larry Hunter.
Senior night ended the way it should have with a victory and they did it all in front of an all-time great Catamount, Kevin Martin, who came to see the last home game before heading to the SoCon tournament.
The Catamounts (13-18) begin preparations for the 2018 Southern Conference Championship as they enter at the number 6 seed in a rematch with the Furman Paladins (22-9).
“We look forward to the tournament. You got to dream and you have to believe and our guys do just that”, said coach Hunter.
WCU will take on the Paladins Saturday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. inside the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville.
