McCoy powers Wildcats to another road win

COGRE101 Weber St N Colorado: Weber State's Trevor Morris, left, and Darin Mahoney work to stop Northern Colorado's Jabril Banks under the basket during an NCAA college basketball game in Greeley, Colo., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/The Daily Tribune, Jim Rydbom)

GREELEY, Colo. — Weber State's "Little Big Man" was all of that Thursday

night, as 5-foot-6 senior guard Kellen McCoy scored a career-high 25 points, and added a team-high eight rebounds, leading the Wildcats to an 82-76 win over Northern Colorado.

It was Weber State's sixth straight win overall, and kept the 'Cats perfect in Big Sky Conference road games at 6-0.

"It was a gritty win," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "I saw a lot of tired legs out there. This is the time of the season where the veterans know you have to push yourself and obviously Kellen was proof of that tonight."

McCoy's line of 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in 31 minutes was enough to overcome a poor night at the free-throw line, where the Wildcats were just 13-of 24 (.542). WSU came into the game shooting 74 percent for the season and more than 77 percent in Big Sky play.

It was bad enough for freshman guard Damian Lillard to go 5-for-8. Lillard came into the game having made 31 straight. He made his first attempt then missed on his second. His streak came to an end against the team in which it started. Lillard missed his first free throw attempt at home vs. Northern Colorado on Jan. 3 the proceeded to make the next 32.

The game had several scoring runs by both teams. WSU jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead, only to see the Bears rally back and go up 26-18 with 7:31 left in the first half. McCoy's three-pointer with 7:07 remaining sparked a 13-5 run over the next three minutes.

UNC came back to take a 39-34 lead on a basket by Chris Kaba with

2:13 left in the first half, but that would be it for the Bears as the Wildcats closed out the stanza with a 6-0 scoring run to take a 40-39 lead into the locker room.

The two teams went toe-to-toe in the first seven minutes of the second half. Weber State took a 53-50 lead on a baseline slam dunk by Daviin Davis with 13:29 on the clock.

The Bears found their legs and over the next four minutes put together a 13-3 scoring run capped by a 3-pointer from an unlikely source in senior center Jabril Banks.