By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Heartbreak spoiled what could have been for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Sunday afternoon, as a last-second 3-pointer from Western Carolina's Mason Faulkner gave the Catamounts a 76-75 victory over the Golden Eagles in overtime.
"Anytime a shot goes in at the buzzer like that is tough, because it's a winning or losing play," Tech head coach John Pelphrey said. "But as the losing team, we'll go back and watch this and probably find a bunch of little plays that could have put us in the situation where it wouldn't have come down to that final shot."
Coaching in his first game of the 2020-21 campaign after missing the opening four contests due to COVID, Pelphrey watched as his team battled back from a seven-point deficit in the second half to force overtime against a very strong Catamount program.
"For me, I was so excited to be here today to compete with our team against a very good opponent" Pelphrey expressed. "I'm even more excited about my health. It's been a really rough two weeks and I just can't tell you how excited I am to be feeling better."
In the overtime period, sophomore Keishawn Davidson drew a foul with 6.8 seconds to play and the score knotted at 73-73, earning a pair of free throws. The point guard calmly knocked down both attempts before Western Carolina called for a timeout.
Faulkner dribbled partway inside the 3-point line before stepping back and draining the dagger with less than a second a play, securing a 5-1 start for a Catamount club that won 19 games a season ago.
"I didn't think we lost the game because we were tired or didn't have any fight," Pelphrey explained. "But it certainly comes down to the quality of play. In the first half, we fouled too much, gave up too many offensive rebounds and had about 10 turnovers, so our quality of play wasn't very good in the first half, and we were still tied. In the second half, I thought our quality of play was better, which put us in a situation to win on the road. Their young man [Faulkner] just made a great shot there at the end of the game."
The Golden Eagles battled foul trouble for much of the contest, finishing the 45 minutes of action with 24 compared to just 11 for the home team. Tech also made 19 turnovers in the contest, but did see improvement at the charity stripe, finishing 10-for-15 on the day.
"We're obviously still a very young basketball team that hasn't really had a chance to practice and do some of the things we'd like to, which every team across the nation is probably struggling with, but we know where we are," Pelphrey said. "Quite honestly, this is the closest we've been to 100 percent and I thought everyone did some good things. There is still a tremendous amount of growth to be made, and we'll look at that and do that. But today, I thought we came in here, on the road for our fifth game in a very short period of time, and competed."
Veteran guards Jr. Clay and Davidson paved the way for the Cookeville crew, combining for 38 of the team's season-high 75 points. Clay poured in a season-high 20 points while also pacing the Golden Eagles with four assists and four steals. Davidson tied his career-high output with 18 points.
Making his season debut after being cleared to play by the NCAA on Dec. 3, sophomore transfer CJ Gettelfinger chipped in eight points off the bench. Freshman forward Kenny White Jr. corralled a team-high eight rebounds while Shandon Goldman kicked in seven boards. Also making his season debut after sitting out due to COVID protocols, Tujautae Williams recorded six points and six rebounds.
Ten of the 11 Golden Eagles who saw the court contributed at least two points in the contest while 10 of the eleven corralled at least one of the team's 41 rebounds.
"We're really looking forward to getting back to Cookeville, taking a couple of days to do a good job with finals, rest up a little bit and just try to work as a basketball team," Pelphrey expressed. "We're excited to do that and see how much we can improve. I think our team looks a lot different than it did a year ago and we have some options. I think personally we have great DNA and Core Values of character. Now we just have to work on our performance, and those are two totally separate things."
The purple and gold will have a week to rest up and prepare for its next tilt when it kicks off Ohio Valley Conference play Sunday, Dec. 13 with a home match-up against Jacksonville State at 4:00 p.m. CT. Tech will return the contest with the Gamecocks down in Jacksonville, Ala. just three days later, making the visit on Dec. 16 for a 7:30 p.m. tilt.
"It [early OVC play] is a little bit different for us, Pelphrey explained. "We don't typically play conference games in December. We have back-to-back games with Jacksonville State and those competitions are always fierce. We have a pretty good feel for them and they have a pretty good feel for us. It should be fun and exciting and we're looking forward to getting back to work."
Photo by NKU Athletics
