National Basketball Association
Tennessee 66, Western Carolina 52
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, December 21, 2012
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
Officials:
# John Heatly, # Chuck Jones, # Doug Shows
Attendance:
15109
By SportsDirect Inc.
Tennessee 66, Western Carolina 52: Jordan McRae scored 14 points off the bench as the host Volunteers overcame a dismal first half to defeat the Catamounts.
Josh Richardson and Jarnell Stokes each added 12 points while Kenny Hall added a career-high 13 rebounds for Tennessee (7-3), which won its season-high third straight game despite shooting just 14.3 percent (3-of-21) in the opening 20 minutes.
Western Carolina (4-8) – which was competitive in losses at No. 10 Illinois and No. 21 Georgetown – did much more than that in this contest, forcing Tennessee into field-goal droughts of 10:07 and 7:05 in the first half to take a 14-4 lead following a jumper from Trey Sumler at the 9:38 mark of the first half.
However, the Volunteers made 14 of 17 free throws over the remainder of the half to grab a 22-18 advantage at intermission. Western Carolina managed to retake the lead at 38-37 with 11:57 left, but Richardson and Hall combined for the first six points of a 23-4 run as the Volunteers shot 53.8 percent in the second half and began to pull away.
Sumler scored a game-high 23 points for the Catamounts.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tennessee notched its 300th win at Thompson-Boling Arena. … The Catamounts fell to 2-36 all-time against Southeastern Conference competition. … Western Carolina committed a season-high 30 fouls and the Volunteers made them pay by going 30-of-42 from the free-throw line.
Top Game Performances
Western Carolina |
|
Tennessee |
Trey Sumler 23 |
Scoring |
Jordan McRae 14 |
Trey Sumler 2 |
Assists |
Trae Golden 4 |
Kenneth Hall 5 |
Rebounds |
Kenny Hall 13 |
Trey Sumler 7 |
Free Throws Made |
Trae Golden 8 |
Trey Sumler 3 |
Steals |
Jordan McRae 2 |
Mike Brown 2 |
Blocks |
Jarnell Stokes 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Western Carolina
|
52 |
37.5 |
2-12 |
8-11 |
6 |
27 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
Tennessee
|
66 |
36.2 |
2-14 |
30-42 |
10 |
41 |
5 |
4 |
12 |