Despite a furious comeback attempt late from Georgia Southern University, Western Carolina University’s shot-making ability was too much to overcome as the Catamounts escaped with a 68-67 win today.

The Eagles (8-9, 1-1 Southern Conference) scored 13 points in the final 3:16 of the game. But no matter how many points they put up, the Catamounts (10-8, 3-0 SoCon) had an answer.

With 3:00 left on the clock Angel Matias powered in a layup to make it a four point game. Then WCU’s Mike Brown layed one in to push it back to six. Junior guard Jelani Hewitt sunk two free throws to bring it back to a four point game. On the ensuing drive up the court, Brown hit a jumper to push it back to six. Whenever the home crowd had something to cheer about, they were almost immediately silenced.

But even with WCU’s shot-for-shot approach at the end of the game, GSU had all kinds of opportunities to win.

The Eagles shot a measly 3-11 from the charity stripe in the first half of the game. Even worse than that was the team’s conversion rate from beyond the arc. In the first half alone, GSU was 0-12 from three-point land. They managed to make two in the second half and finished just 2-15, 13.3%, for the game.

The Eagles held a two point lead at the half before falling by one to the Catamounts. New head football coach Willie Fritz addressed fans in attendance at halftime.