Catamounts claw past Mercer into SoCon semis

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Western Carolina erased a 17-point deficit in the first half and climbed out of a nine-point hole in the second as the Catamounts clawed their way past Mercer, 77-73, in the Southern Conference tournament quarterfinals.

“That was a heck of a college basketball game,” WCU coach Tim Craft said. “All credit goes to Mercer and coach (Ryan) Ridder. He had his team ready to go tonight and I did not. Our guys batted to get back in the game. I thought our offensive rebounding was the key (25) was key to getting us back in the game.”

Mercer (19-13) jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a three by Baraka Okojie. He also garnered a pair of layups in an early spurt that saw the Bears lead, 14-5, at the first media timeout. Tayeshaun Smith broke the Western Carolina drought with a tip-in, but the Catamounts were only shooting at a 29 percent clip as they trailed, 18-9.

The hole got deeper as Mercer’s Brady Shoulders had a pair of steals and layups to put the Bears up 22-9 at the 10:51 mark of the first half. Armani Mighty added a dunk and Shoulders scored again on a drive to  the basket to lead by 17. Western Carolina went on a quick 5-0 spurt, capped on a three by Tahlan Pettway, cutting the deficit to 28-17. He followed with a midrange jumper, and by the time Tidjiane Dioumassi hit a three, the Catamounts had clawed back to 29-23. Okojie stopped the extended run with an acrobatic layup, but Dioumassi stayed hot with another triple as WCU only trailed, 35-32, at the final media timeout of the half. Dioumassi gave Western Carolina its first lead of the game with a fallaway jumper as the Catamounts had come all the way back to take a 36-35 halftime lead.

Okojie’s good game continued with two quick buckets to start the second half. Quinton Perkins added a three as Mercer led, 42-38. Zaire Williams added a layup as the Bears continued to grab control of the contest. Williams hit another triple, but once again, the Catamounts railed. Pettway converted a trio of free throws to cut the deficit to 48-45.

Okojie answered with a three and by the time Perkins hit one from beyond the arc, Mercer had pushed its lead back to 54-45 with 12:43 left in the game. Dioumassi hit a three and Samuel Dada followed with a tip-in. Pettway buried a trey and Dioumassi scored a driving layup to give WCU a 59-58 lead, forcing a Mercer timeout.

Shoulders ended the run with a big triple for Mercer, but Dioumassi would not be denied. His runner gave Western Carolina a 66-63 lead with 3:26 left in the game. Cord Stansberry then hit a three to increase the advantage to 69-65, but Williams would later splash a Mercer trifecta to tie the game at 71 with 90 seconds left. After a stop by the Bears, Williams hit one of two free throws to put Mercer ahead, 72-71, with 40 seconds left.

The lead changed hands again when Stansberry and Marcus Kell hit three of the next four shots from the foul line to lead, 74-72, with 13 seconds left. Okojie missed a heave at the buzzer, and Western Carolina advanced with a 77-73 win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: There were several impressive stat lines in the game for both teams. Okojie scored a game-high 26 points for Mercer, while Dioumassi and Pettway were a two-headed monster for Western Carolina, scoring a combined 39 of the team’s 77 points. The Catamounts also owned the glass by a wide 53-29 margin, with 25 offensive rebounds leading to 27 second-chance points. Mercer converted 14 Western Carolina turnovers into 21 points.

I SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE: Despite scoring 26 points, Baraka Okojie feels like he let his team down.

“I should have done more,” he said. “I missed a couple bunnies that I usually make nine out of ten times. I didn’t get to the foul line enough and I only had one rebound tonight. That’s not enough. We were up by 17 points, and we lost it. I think we were the better team tonight and we could not get the job done.”

STREAKING TO THE SEMIS: Western Carolina ran its winning streak to seven games with the victory. That’s the longest such streak in the modern era, behind an 11-game run in 2010. The Catamounts have not lost since a 77-66 setback to Wofford on February 7.

UP NEXT: Western Carolina (15-15) faces top-seeded ETSU Sunday at 4 p.m. The two programs split a pair of close games in the regular season, with the contests being decided by a total of six points.