BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Redshirt senior Mason Faulkner scored a game-high 24 points but Western Carolina's furious second half surge fell just short on Monday afternoon as Samford held on for an 82-78 at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford improves to 6-7 overall and 2-4 in the Southern Conference while WCU falls to 7-5 and 0-3 in league play.
Faulkner's 24-point performance was his second straight 20-point-plus game after the Glasgow, Ky., native tallied a team and season-best 25 at Mercer on Saturday. Faulkner finished 8-for-16 from the field. Xavier Cork finished with 18 points, making 10 of 11 free throw attempts. Cory Hightower posted his first double-double at WCU with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, 10 of which came on the defensive glass. Matt Halvorsen also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Christian Guess led five Samford players in double figures with 19 points, followed by Jacob Tryon (17), Logan Dye (11), A.J. Staton-McCray (11), and Richardson Maitre (10). Guess and Tryon both pulled down seven rebounds.
For a second-consecutive game, the Catamounts found themselves in a 20-point hole at intermission, trailing Samford 45-25 on Monday. The Bulldogs answered WCU's early 8-to-3 opening with a 9-0 spurt capped by a Dye 3-pointer for a 12-8 lead just under five minutes into the contest. Samford then scored 12 of the next 16 points to lead 24-12 at the midpoint of the first half, capping the opening 20 minutes with a Guess three-point play to lead by 20 at the halftime horn.
Samford shot 47-percent from the floor including 7-for-13 (54%) from behind the arc in the first half.
WCU started its march back against the Bulldogs by opening the second half on a 9-2 run, pulling with 13, 47-34, with just over 17 minutes to play. Following a pair of Staton-McCray free throws that gave the hosts a 56-41 lead at the 13:29 mark, the Catamounts stormed back with an 11-0 run capped by a pair of Cork free throws to pull within four, 56-52, with 10:38 to play, erasing almost all of the 20-point deficit in the less than half of the final frame.
Jaron Rillie put Samford back up by six, 60-54, before a 10-3 Catamount push capped by a Faulkner 3-pointer that gave WCU a 64-63 lead with 5:48 to play, its first advantage since the opening four minutes of the first half.
After the teams traded the lead back-and-forth on the next two possessions, a Dye layup gave the Bulldogs a 67-66 advantage with 4:50 to play. Samford would lead by six points on three different occasions over the next four minutes before Faulkner brought the Catamounts within one, 78-77, on a hard driving layup with 29 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, Maitre was fouled and made two free throws to push the Bulldog lead to three points with 14 seconds to play. Faulkner was then fouled as he crossed half-court on the return possession, sinking one of two free throw attempts for a two-point deficit. However, Maitre grabbed the defensive rebound from Hightower on the second free throw attempt and hit two free throws at the other end to secure the win.
The Catamounts outshot Samford from the field 48.1 percent to 45.2 percent but had 19 turnovers that resulted in 14 Bulldog points. Samford held a 36-34 edge in rebounds and outscored Western Carolina 40-34 in the paint.
WCU returns to the Ramsey Center on Wednesday (Jan. 20) for their first home game since Dec. 6, welcoming ETSU for a 4 p.m. tip-off. Additionally, Saturday's game at Wofford (Jan. 23) will now start at 4 p.m. instead of the previously announced time of 7 p.m. with no fans allowed inside Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMBB).
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January 19, 2021 at 07:14AM
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Second Half Comeback Falls Short at Samford - catamountsports.com
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