GAME NOTES: The first-ever meeting between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies takes place on Monday night as part of CBE Hall of Fame Classic regional action.

After three games, the Golden Grizzlies find themselves winless as they prepare to host this event in Michigan. The squad has bowed to the likes of nationally-ranked Iowa State, Eastern Michigan and most recently, Western Michigan last Wednesday by a score of 82-71. Oakland will be back in action the next two days versus Chicago State and Georgia State, respectively.

As for the Catamounts, who will also change partners and match up with GSU and Chicago State the next couple of days, they managed to snap a two-game slide to start the 2014-15 campaign by whipping up on tiny Hiwassee, 72-53, at home on Friday. With that first win of the season, head coach Larry Hunter registered the 650th victory of his career, joining a group of 33 coaches who have reached that mark.

Against Hiwassee, James Sinclair erupted for a game-high 25 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor while also pulling down nine rebounds to pace the squad in the 19-point home victory. Mike Brown and Rhett Harrelson both delivered 12 points, the latter handing out a team-best six assists as well. Defensively, the Catamounts held the visitors to just 36.5 percent shooting from the field and forced 21 turnovers, which they traded in for 27 points.

Sinclair, the leading scorer for the Catamounts in all three games, is one of the nation's leading scorers as well with 25.3 ppg, thanks to his 56.5 percent shooting from the field. Harrelson checks in with another 13.0 ppg and is first on the team with 4.0 apg as well. As a collective unit, Western Carolina is producing just 67.3 ppg, but still that's better than the 66.3 ppg being allowed by the program.

The Oakland defense proved to be far too forgiving as it allowed Western Michigan to shoot 56.9 percent from the floor, including 9-of-18 beyond the arc in the most recent outing for the Grizzlies. From an offensive standpoint, Tommie McCune tallied 27 points, shooting 8-of-13 from the field and hitting all three of his 3-point tries. Kahlil Felder tacked on 14 points, to go along with his eight assists and four steals, while Ralph Hill posted 10 points in 18 minutes off the bench,

While Corey Petros has led Oakland in rebounding in each of the first three games, the team has had a different leading scorer each time out. Petros (8.3 rpg) is putting up 14.3 ppg at the offensive end of the floor and is trailing McCune (18.7 ppg) and Felder (17.3 ppg) at the moment. Felder is also responsible for an impressive 9.0 apg, yet the team is still being outscored by more than 11 ppg.

The Catamounts may have a better record at the moment, but they cannot put too much stock in that lone win over Hiwassee. As long as the Golden Grizzlies lean on their top scores, this is a game that could easily be won by the hosts.