East Tennessee State holds off Western Carolina 69-67 in Southern Conference Tournament semifinal

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Brian Taylor II scored 22 points and top-seededl East Tennessee State used a late run to beat Western Carolina 69-67 on Sunday in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.

East Tennessee State (23-10) will play the winner of Sunday's other semifinal between No. 7 seed UNC Greensboro and sixth-seeded Furman for the championship on Monday with an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

No. 5 seed Western Carolina led by eight points with five minutes remaining, but East Tennessee State went on a 14-4 run from there to pull out the victory.

Taylor shot 8 of 16 from the field, including 4 for 9 from 3-point range, and went 2 for 3 from the free-throw line for the Buccaneers. Blake Barkley totaled 19 points and eight rebounds, while Jaylen Smith scored 13.

Marcus Kell finished with 18 points for the Catamounts (15-16). Western Carolina also got Cord Stansberry added 16 points and seven rebounds. Tidjiane Dioumassi pitched in with 14 points.

Taylor scored 14 points in the second half to help East Tennessee State overcome a 38-24 deficit at halftime.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.