• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1987-01-29_Vol52_No16_12

The Western Carolinian 12 Thursday, January 29, 1987 Glad Tidings, No Christmas Break Basketball Following is a summary of every Western Carolina basketball game played since the last issue of The Western Carolinian was published. Compiled by staff writer Chris Geis. N.C. State 96, Western 75 Dec. 6 — When Leroy Gasque scored on a fast-break basket at the 8:36 mark of the second half, Western Carolina basketball was at one of its all-time highs. His basket cut the North Carolina State lead to 63-60, and it seemed that with 8,114 screaming fans rooting them on, the Catamounts would be on their way to an upset of the nation's 18th-ranked team in the opening game of the Ramsey Center. It was not to be, however. State went on a 13-3 run and put the game away by a deceptively big margin. "It surely wasn't a 21-point game out there," State coach Jim Valvano said. "People are going to think we came up here and had an easy win, but let me tell you, the fact is another couple of baskets their way and it might have gone the other way." Said Western coach Steve Cottrell: "For 35 minutes we gave them a heckuva game." Western was led by Gasque's 27-point effort as it fell to 0-2. Bennie Bolton had 23 to lead the Wolfpack. UNC-Asheville 85, Western 67 Dec. 8 — As big as Western beating State would have been, that's how surprising was the Bulldogs' victory over the more established Catamount program. The Cats, flat after the emotional loss to N.C. State, fell behind 32-25 and shot just 33 percent from the field for the game as they dropped to 0-3. UNCAwas led by Van Wilkins'36 points, and Gasque turned in a fine performance for the Cats, hitting seven of 12 from the floor and getting 23 points. UNC-Charlotte 80, Western 63 CHARLOTTE, Dec 10 — The Catamounts' problems continued as they fell to a much improved 49er team. Western fell behind at halftime, 48-25, but put on a strong second-half performance that Cottrell was encouraged by. Gasque was six of 10 from the field and led the team with 15 points. Western shot 37.8 percent from the field, UNCC 51.9. The Cats dropped to 0-4. Furman 79, Western 65 Dec. 13 — The Catamounts came home seeking their first victory of the year, but they didn't get it against Southern Conference rival Furman. Their 0-5 start marked their worst start in history. Western played poorly most of the game, but tied it, 46-46, on a short jumper by Chris Tipton midway through the second half. The Paladians ran off eight straight points, however, to put the game away. Western 79, Campbell 63 FAYETTEVILLE, Jan. 3 — The Catamounts opened the year with a long overdue win, breaking away from a 35-33 lead at halftime. Floyd Showers scored 23 forWestern(1-6).The Cats turned in their best shooting performance of the year, hitting on 55 percent from the floor. Gault (14 points) was seven of 11, and Tipton(12) was five for 10, in field goal shooting. Robert Hill also had 14 for the Cats. WestemSO, Tusculum 58 Jan. 5 — The first victory in the Ramsey Center for Western came at the expense of a private NAIA college that was simply overmatched. Western shot 54 percent from the field, and the team improved to 2-6. Gasque led the scoring with 19 points, hitting 8 of 13 shots. Gault had 16 and Tipton and Hill had 15 each. The Cats led 39- 26 at halftime, and the game ended when Gault dunked off a John Cunningham ally-oop pass. UNC-Asheville 74, Western 60 ASHEVILLE, Jan. 8 - The Catamounts led for most of the game in their rematch with the Bulldogs at the Ashevilie Civic Center. But a Van Wilkins jumper at the 7:26 mark of the second half gave the Bulldogs the lead, 54-53, and they went on to break it open to 60-53, after which Western never got closer than eight. Cold shooting and poor offensive execution, including some key turnovers, killed Western(2-7). A crowd of more than 5,000 was on hand. Florida State 101, Western 76 Dec. 16 — The big, powerful and quick Seminoles jumped out early and just ran away from the Catamounts. Although they had scored 101 points against Western, they had scored 91 three nights earlier in a loss to nationally ranked Oklahoma. The Seminoles, who snapped a 22-game road losing streak dating to December 1984, got 21 points each from Randy Allen and Jerome Fitchett. Gasque had 18 points and Andre Gault had 14, but both fouled out. Tipton had 15 and Richard Rogers had 12. Gault played one of his better games for the Catamounts(0-6), hitting on six of nine fiel) goal attempts. Furman 71, Western 49 GREENVILLE, S.C., Jan. 10 - Terrible shooting again plagued the Catamounts. Although they jumped out to an 8-0 lead, Furman took over midway through thefirst half and never looked back, getting six three-pointers from guards Shawn Reid and David Brown, who didn't miss from the three-point stripe. Western (2-8) shot 29.4 percent from the field for the game, its worst performance of the year. The Cats hit 15 of their 51 field goal attempts. Gasque and Showers each had 10 points, but both fouled out and they took 22 shots between them. It was the fewest points Western had scored since a 1984 loss at Furman, and it dropped the Cats to 0-2 in the Southern Conference. Davidson 61, Western 57 Jan. 12 — Western again jumped out to an early lead, going ahead 15-2 against the defending Southern Conference tournament champions. But the Cats went through a seven- minute stretch in the second half in which they went from a 46-40 lead to a 48-46 deficit. They missed 12 straight shots in that span. They couldn't capitalize on several opportunities at the end of the game, and guard Vincent Walker hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a four-point game. Western(2-9 overall and 0-3 conference) was led by 12 points from Richard Rogers. "We missed shots that could have been better shots than what we had," said Cottrell. "It's a very discouraging loss." Western 74, East Tennessee St. 57 Jan. 17 — Floyd Showers scored 15 points and four other Catamounts placed in double figures as Western fought off a late surge by the Buccaneers to claim its first Southern Conference victory. It was the Cats' first game without Gasque, who quit after the Davidson loss. Western (3-9) had as much as a 21-point lead midway through the second half. "We needed to be able to fight off runs by the other team," Cottrell said. Western went five and a half minutes without scoring late in the second half, but East Tennessee could not get closer than eight points. Gault had 12 and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tipton and Rogers had 14 each. Hill had 12. * Note: Complete coverage of the Appalchian State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Virginia Military, and Marshall games appears on pages 10-12. MARSHALL was the only one of four shots he hit on the night. The normally solid shooter, in fact, was just four of 14 on the night. Marshall seemed to put the game away on a Dwayne Lewis fast-break bucket at the 3:02 mark, which made the score 69-58. But it hadn't yet put things away. Back-to-back baskets by Floyd Showers made the score 69- 62 with 2:33 left, and then enter Hill again. He hit another three-pointer — he was three for three on the night en route to a career-high 25 points — and now the lead was only four, 71-67, with 1:39 left. A pair of free throws by Henderson put the herd back up by six, and Rogers scored inside with 22 seconds left to cut the score to 74-69. Rogers missed a dunk with six seconds left that would have cut the Marshall lead to three, however. Instead of 74-71 and the possibility of stealing an inbounds pass, the Catamounts were faced with a five-point deficit that Henderson, with a free throw, made the six points to wrap things up. "I feel for him," Huckabay said of Rogers. "He didn't shoot the ball well tonight, but he's normally been a thorn in our sides. I really feel for Western Carolina, because if they ever got out of their shooting slump, they'd be a really fine basketball team." Said Cottrell: "We played well, but we got behind, and you can't get behind a good solid team like that.... We *ent to a zone to try to keep their inside guys out of things, but Holden snuck through, and I thought he might have been the difference." Holden finished with 18 points. Henderson had 25. Cottrell added: "Hill found himself tonight. Every game he seems to be getting better, and tonight he was just superb. And I thought Spotlight did a great job. For him to be man enough to stand up and find his game at the end of the season, I'm really proud of that." The loss ruined a fine overall hustling effort for the Catamounts. Although shooting poorly from the outside, Western was all over the court, dMng for loose balls,forcing 15 Marshall turnovers in the first half, stuffing Marshall shots, and dunking — doing the things it was expected to do in the preseason. Showers opened the scoring with a breakaway reverse dunk, and finished with 11 points. Walker played his best offensive game since last year. Rogers had an off night shooting, but played well otherwise, blocking a Marshall shot and hitting a key basket. One factor that hurt the Catamounts was at the line. The Herd was able to get in 27 foul shots, Western just eight. Gault, who had 10 points, was bumped and thumped inside all night by Holden, on whom just two peronal fouls were called. The Cats, now 4-12 overall and 2-6 in the conference, travel to Davidson tonight. Davidson, the defending conference tournament champion won in Cullowhee on Jan. 12 by a 61-57 margin. Western will take on Tennessee-Chattanooga, the defending league regular season champion, on Saturday night, and then will return home Monday night for a 7:30 game against The Citadel. Cunningham: 'Later, Dudes' Guard John Cunningham has left the Western Carolina basketball team, the second Catamount player to quit the squad in three weeks. Cunningham, a junior transfer, was his first year on the Catamount team and cited a lack of playing time as his reason for leaving. He had played in 11 games until he quit before Monday's game with Marshall, but he was averaging Just 1.8 points. "I felt I wasn't contributing," Cunningham said in a press statement. "I felt I was dead weight." He added, "I don't know what my plans are at this time other than that I plan to continue In school at Western Carolina." Said Western coach Steve Cottrell: "We encouraged John to stay and stick it out. We told him he needed more time to give himself a chance to work into our system." Cunningham transfered from Draughon's Junior College in Savannah, Ga. UTC When Andre Gault, who carried the team offensively with 19 points, tapped in a missed jumper at the 1:52 mark, the score was 53- 49, and Western had an opportunity to win it. The Mocs' Maurice Head and James Hunter (21 points) hit four of four from the line each in the last 1:32, however, to seal their team's eighth straight victory. "We just couldn't get the lead. We missed some big shots," Cottrell said. "We never really got the pressure on them." "I saw some good things out there, though. Andre's playing great. He's doing all he can do for us now. Royd played a solid ball game. Robert Hill gave us a big lift «f the bench." "But I'm very concerned aoout those stretches. It's just missing shots, inside and outside." Gault, picking pu the slack since all-leaaue forward Leroy Gasque quit the team, played his third straight good offensive game. He was just six of 14 from the field, but he was harrassed as much as possible by the Mocs, who fouled him enough to enable him to hit seven of 10 from the line. He also had a team-high nine rebounds. "We tried to buy time on covering Gault, and in the crucial INTRAMURALS minutes we put Lance Fulse on him," said UTC coach Mack McCarthy, "and Fulse did a good job. Later on our points guards, Maurice and Morris (Lyons), kind of ignored Western's point guards and helped out inside on the post players. It wasn't a lack of respect for the point guards, but we had to do something to get on Gault." Western wasn't able to help out from outside, however. The Cats didn't shoot that poorly (47.6 percent), but most of their scoring came inside. Showerswas the only outside threat. He was six of 12 from the field and had 12 points. Hill also was six of 12 and had 12 points, but most of them came on little post-up jumpers. Western Carolina (4-10) drops to 2-4 in the conference. It hosts Virginia Military (5-9) on Saturday night. On Monday night it wil' entertain Marshall (11-4), which is tied with Chattanooga for first place going into the teams' Saturday afternoon game. "We're doing the best we can and we're making progress, but we needed a win," Cottrell said. "This was a big one in my mind. We had a chance. We could have gotten them. Saturday's game is now even biggerforus. VMI always gives us fits." All Campus Men 1. Sigma Phi Epsilon 2. Yes He Did 3. Street Survivors 4. Smoke Patrol 5. Physical Force^ 6. Pi Kappa Alpha 7. The Outlaws 8. Tau Kappa Epsilon 9. Quiet Storm 10. BSU 11. Pi Kappa Phi 12. Crimson Tide 13. Sigma Phi Epsilon B 14. Delta Sigma Phi 15. Lambda Chi Alpha 16. Bernie Maniacs 17. Pi Lambda Phi 18. Pi Kappa Alpha B 19. Pi Kappa Phi B 20. Kappa Alpha Small Campus Men 1. Buff's Stuff 2. Yo Brothers 3. The Big Chill 4. Scum Of The Earth 5. Carolina Village 6. Tracers 7. 87'ers 8. Legion Of Doom 9. Four Horsemen 10. Crazy DUI's 11. GDI's Women 1. Turkey Squats 2. Zeta Tau Alpha 3. Sigma Kappa 4. Slammers 5. Cava//'ers 6. Phi Mu 7. Mystery Ladies 8. Awful Awesomes 9. Delta Zeta 10. TKE Ul Sis ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING WINNERS IN THE BASKETBALL SKILLS COMPETITIONS IS AVAILABLE AT THE INTRAMURAL OFFICE. Women's table tennis singles will occur Feb. 3 for greeks, Feb. 4 for independents. 7:00 pm, Reid dance studio UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY CHALLENGES ALL STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN "CAMPBELL'S SOUP NIGHT" BRING A CAN OF SOUP OR CANNED FOOD FOR OUR AREA FOOD CLOSETS FOR THOSE IN NEED COLLECTION BOXES AT STUDENT GATES CAMPBELL'S SOUP NIGHT ANYONE 18 AND UNDER ADMITTED FREE WITH FOOD ITEM Freshman Angle Bohles of. Decatur, Ga., scores for the Lady Cats basketball team against Furman. Bohles has been one of the team's top offensive threats. Photo by Mark Haskett WCU vs. CAMPBELL Wednesday, February 4

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1987-01-29
  • Date digitized: 2019-04-09
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 15"
  • Pages: 14 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1987-01-29_Vol52_No16
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library