Atsur's 3-pointer leads Western Carolina to 61-58 win over VMI Basketball

Men's Basketball VMIKeydets.com

Atsur's 3-pointer leads Western Carolina to 61-58 win over VMI Basketball

LEXINGTON, VA - Junior guard Emre Atsur nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 8.9 seconds left to lead Western Carolina past VMI, 61-58, Saturday afternoon before 2,754 spectators at Cameron Hall and a regional television audience.

The Catamounts took the season series from the Keydets and moved to 8-15, 5-7 SoCon, on the year while the Keydets slipped to 6-17, 1-11.

The Keydets trailed, 58-53, following a Kevin Martin 3-pointer with 1:34 left, but rallied with five straight points on a Radee Skipworth dunk and a Lavar Joseph 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to tie the game at 58-58. Western Carolina called timeout with 21 seconds left and got the game winner when Atsur buried a 19-footer from the left corner for his fourth trey in six attempts on the afternoon.

Martin led all scorers with 20 points while Atsur added 17 points. Junior forward Alex Osipovitch scored 10 points for the Catamounts.

Junior forward Skipworth notched his second double-double of the season with 15 points and season-high 14 rebounds and led the Keydets in scoring for the 14th time in the last 15 games. Sophomore center Tim Allmond scored 12 points and hit all six shots from the floor.

VMI missed opportunities to take the lead down the stretch when senior forward Zach Batte missed a pair of free throws with the score tied 53-53 with 2:40 left in regulation. WCU senior Rans Brempong stuffed an Easu Eatman layup attempt at the 2:00 mark with the Catamounts protecting a 55-53 lead. It was Brempong's 217th career block which moved him to third place on the Southern Conference all-time shot blocking list.

The Keydets missed a chance to tie the game on their last possession when guard Richard Little's desperation 3-pointer from 26 feet misfired at the top of the backboard as time expired.

VMI shot 48.1% from the game (26-54) but connected on just two of 13 from 3-point range (15.4%) and four of 10 from the line (40.0%). The Catamounts hit 42% from the field (21-50) and drained a season-high 11of 23 attempts (47.8%) from 3-point range.

The Catamounts capitalized on five VMI turnovers in the first 6 1/2 minutes of regulation and built a 16-6 lead at the 13:36 mark of the first half. The lead reached as much as 11 points (21-10) when Martin converted a layup with 11:40 left, but VMI countered with a 7-0 run keyed by layups by Skipworth and Allmond, and a 3-pointer by Ben Rand.

The Catamounts led 30-27 at the break, but VMI took its first lead since the opening minute of the game when Batte hit a layup to put the Keydets ahead, 31-30, at 18:50. WCU answered with a 10-2 run to take a 40-33 lead with 15:04 left, but the Catamounts went scoreless for nearly five minutes before Osipovitch hit a jumper with 10:08 remaining. The second half saw seven lead changes and two ties before Atsur's game winner.

VMI junior guard Richard Little dished out 11 assists - the 15th time has dished out seven or more assists in a game this season.

VMI entertains Chattanooga Monday night at Cameron Hall (7:00 p.m.) while the Catamounts travel to Charleston, S.C. to face College of Charleston (7:00 p.m.).

VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "We talked about not leaving our man, and we went ahead and left our guy open. We played hard again, but came up short - that's been the story of the season. We shot 2 of 13 from the 3-point arc and that's been a big negative for us, too. We just got to keep working and our guys haven't given up. We had a chance to win the ballgame and just didn't. On the last possession, we wanted Levar Joseph to come off the pump fake and try to draw the foul. He was the one player for us that had been hitting the three this season and had hit one just seconds earlier. We really don't have a go to guy except for Levar in that situation, and we'll keep working on it and we're lacking some confidence now in that part of our game."


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