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calohee, north carolina – Russell Jones Jr.Spurred West Carolina on Saturday afternoon to score a career-high 23 points and beat the visiting Mercer Bears to a season-low 45 points as Catamount secured a 73-45 Southern Conference victory at Ingles Court in Ramsey. led a stifling defensive effort held in the center on Saturday night.
Jones topped the 20-point plateau for the second straight win by helping the Catamounts to their third straight win at SoCon.
WCU improves to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in SoCon play. The 3-1 start equals the Catamounts’ best opening four-game stretch in league play since the 2019-20 season. Mercer falls 7-10 and 0-4.
Jones Jr.’s 23 points is the most by a WCU player this season. He finished 9-13 from the field, 4-6 behind the 3-point line, and 1-2 at the free-throw line. The Brycewood, South Carolina, player had two assists and he had three steals. Tyzaun Claude Scored 16 points and had 9 rebounds. Vontelius Woolbright He narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds and added 6 assists.
Sean Walker Jr. leads Mercer with 13 points. Kamar Robertson recorded his 8 points and his 4 rebounds, a team-high.
Trailing 20-15 after David Craig Jumper with 4:31 to play in the opening stanza, Jones Jr. hit a jumper just outside the paint to keep the Catamounts within three and make it 20-17 at the 4:10 mark. Did. On the ensuing Mercer possession, Jones Jr. stole the ball from Mercer’s Jordan his Jones, dribbled towards halfcourt and made a layup to trim Bear his lead to a point. The next Mercer possession yielded the same result with WCU’s Jones Jr. picking up his opponent’s pocket and converting a steal into a layup to lead the Catamounts to his 21-20 lead with 3:36. rice field. WCU did not track down the rest of the game, taking a 31-23 lead at halftime.
The Katamounts started the second half on a 9-2 run as Claude’s free throw put the hosts ahead 40-27 just over three minutes into the second half. Jones Jr. made a layup on his 13th minute to push the WCU lead to 47-29. Claude led the Katamounts with a game-high 28 points, 63-35, as he completed his three-point play with 4:58 remaining. The WCU led him by 28 points on two separate occasions. The last point is the game’s final point as a result of the pair. Elijah Couples Free throw with 37 seconds remaining.
With all of WCU’s points coming as a result of free throws, Mercer maintained a 7-4 lead in the under-16 media timeouts. The Bears took a 14-8 lead on his 3-pointer off Glisson III with less than 11 minutes remaining and continued the lead until Craig’s goal.
In the game, WCU finished 27-57 (47.4%) from the field, 9-21 (42.9%) behind the three-point line, and 10-18 (55.6%) at the free throw line. Saturday’s game was his first win for the WCU of the season and his less than 10 3-pointer successes. Mercer went 60-for-18 (30%) on the field, behind the arc he was 13-for-2 (15.4%), and at the free-throw line he was 14-for-7 (50%). WCU he rebounded Mercer 46-30 and scored 34 points in the paint.
The WCU is heading out for two games next week, starting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Chattanooga.
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