Parks leads The Citadel past W Carolina in SoCon opener

Mar 3, 2018, 08:09 pm

ASHVILLE, N.C. -- Preston Parks scored 28 points and ninth-seeded The Citadel used a late 8-0 run to defeat eighth-seeded Western Carolina in the opening game of the Southern Conference Tournament on Friday night.

Haboubacar Mutombo's 3-pointer with 7:02 to go put the Catamounts up 62-61 with 7:02 to play. Parks started the key surge with a pair of free throws. Six of the eight points came from the line. Western Carolina missed eight shots before Mutombo's layup with 4:09 to play. He kept the Catamounts in it with two more layups as he scored their last 16 points.

The fifth and final 3 by Mutombo, who had 25 points, with 2:42 to play made it a two-point game but Western Carolina missed three shots and Ezekiel Balogun had a basket before four free throws in the final 30 seconds sealed it.

Zane Najdawi added 16 points for The Citadel (12-20), which will play league champion Greensboro in Saturday's quarterfinals.

Devin Petersen had 14 points and Marc Gosselin had 10 points and 12 boards for Western Carolina (9-22).