Former Nash Central star helps WCU light up scoreboard

Western Carolina guard Trey Sumler

CULLOWHEE - Former Nash Central basketball star Trey Sumler helped Western Carolina's men's basketball team set all sorts of records recently and turned the heads of college hoop fans across the nation - for one night.

Sumler, a redshirt sophomore guard for the Southern Conference member Catamounts, was the leading scorer for WCU with a game-high 18 points (6-for-9 from the floor, six assists) in a win over Toccoa Falls on its home court at the Ramsey Center on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

But it wasn't just an ordinary victory.

Western, which tallied the game's first 18 points, scored a school record 141 points against Toccoa that evening. What turned heads across the nation that night was the final score - 141-39!

Even ESPN's SportsCenter got into spreading the news of the rout that evening.

Sumler, Nash Central's all-time leading scorer (1,921 points), was among nine players who scored in double figures in the most lopsided victory in school history. It was also the third-largest margin of victory (102 points) in NCAA history.

The school records set that night by the Catamounts included the most points in a game (141), the most points in a half (72 in the first), the largest margin of victory (102), and the most double-figure scores in a game (nine).

Sumler and his teammates, however, couldn't follow up that point explosion last weekend against rival Appalachian State. WCU fell to 9-11 on the season with a 84-72 league loss.

But Sumler is playing at his best in his first year as a starter.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder, who is third behind Rocky Mount's Tashawn Mabry and Phil Ford as Nash County's all-time leading scorer, is WCU's second-leading point maker at 12 a game. He's grabbing 4.4 rebounds a contest and he is its leading assist man with just over three a game.

His offensive game has been coming on since the Christmas break. He has been the Catamounts' leading scorer their last three games.