Nov. 25, 2009

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, NC - Harouna Mutombo scored four points in the final 1:02 to propel hot-shooting Western Carolina to an 83-77 win over Duquesne in the final game at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Cullowhee, N.C.

The Catamounts hit a school record 17 3-pointers, including seven by Jake Robinson, to hand the Dukes (4-1) their first loss of the season.

The win upped WCU's record to 4-1.

The Catamounts, who entered the game holding opponents to 50.5 points per game, led 73-59 before the Dukes went on a 17-3 run to tie it on a Damian Saunders alley-oop dunk with 2:45 left. Eric Evans scored seven points during the run.

Duquesne tied it again at 77-77 on an Evans free throw before Mutombo drove the lane, scored and was fouled with 1:02 left. Mutombo missed the free throw, but was credited with a steal when he and Evans collided along the sideline near midcourt. Mutombo then scored again with 54 seconds left to seal the win.

"We caught a team that was shooting lights out," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "I thought our guys guarded pretty well. We had hands up on a lot of those shots."

Matthews and Duquesne's Bill Clark shared game scoring honors with 25 points each. B.J. Monteiro had 15 and Saunders, Evans and Jason Duty added 11 each for DU. Saunders posted his fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Duty scored eight points as Duquesne raced out to an early 15-3 lead. The Dukes upped the advantage to 43-30 on a Monteiro 3-pointer with 2:41 left in the half, before Western Carolina reeled off 10-striaght points, including the fourth and fifth 3-pointers of the half by Robinson to cut the lead to 43-40 at the half.

Clark hit all 10 of his free throw attempts in scoring 19 for the Dukes in the opening 20 minutes.

WCU carried the run over to the second half, outscoring the Dukes 13-2 to take a 53-45 lead with 15:17 to go.

Western Carolina went 17-of-35 from the 3-point arc in becoming the first team to shoot better than 40 percent from the field against the Dukes this season (45.5%). Duquesne shot 42.1 percent. DU turned it over 16 times to 15 for WCU.

"For being on the road a man down for a three-day tournament, I liked our effort," said Everhart. "I liked the way our guys rose to the occasion. We put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win the game."

Everhart was referring to starting guard/forward Melquan Bolding who is out for 4-6 weeks following Nov. 17 wrist surgery.

Duquesne breaks for Thanksgiving prior hosting Radford on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 2:00 p.m. It will be the Dukes first home game since the season opener on Nov. 13.

NOTES

• WCU (45.5%) was the first team to shoot over 40 percent against the Dukes this season.

• Damian Saunders' double-double (11-15) was the 12th of his career and fifth in as many games this season.

• B.J. Monteiro averaged 14.3 ppg. in the three games at Cullowhee ... the 6-5 sophomore has scored in double digits in each of DU's past three games ... he had one double-digit game as a freshman.

• Bill Clark was named to the Cullowhee Regional All-Tournament Team.