Mocs end Apps SoCon run

By Steve Behr

Sports Editor

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — When it came down to it, Chattanooga’s big lead was just a little harder for Appalachian State to overcome than the Mountaineers’ advantage over the Mocs.
Chattanooga overcame an early 11-point deficit, built a 16-point lead and then held off a furious Mountaineers rally in its 78-75 victory in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament at North Charleston Arena.
The Mocs (19-12), who are the defending tournament champions, reached the SoCon finals for the fourth straight season. Chattanooga also knocked Appalachian State (14-16) out of the tournament for the second straight year. The Mocs face Davidson, which beat Elon 65-58 in the other semifinal, in the championship game Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.
It didn’t come so easy for the Mocs, even though they looked ready to blow the Mountaineers out of the arena. After a Steve Cherry 3-point bucket just before the first-half buzzer put the Mocs in front 36-34 at halftime, Chattanooga center Charles Anderson nearly single-handedly led a 10-2 by scoring eight of the Mocs’ 10 points. Anderson also grabbed four of the first five rebounds to be had in the second half and Chattanooga outrebounded the Mountaineers 11-1 before Jeremy Clayton grabbed two straight for Appalachian State with less than 11 minutes left in the game.
“We wanted to establish ourselves in the second half,” said Anderson, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, four during that stretch. “We were trying to limit them to one shot on their offensive end. Everybody was chipping in.”
Chattanooga eventually built a 62-46 and looked ready to win by the biggest margin of the tournament.
“Anderson was a big reason they built their lead,” Clayton said. “They knew they had to go to him.”
It didn’t last. The Mountaineers, who scored just 12 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half, started a comeback that nearly propelled them into the finals. The Mountaineers had already sliced the Mocs led to 68-59 when Clayton hit two free throws with 1:39 left.
D.J. Thompson stole the ensuing inbounds pass and found Clayton, who laid the ball in, cutting Chattanooga’s lead down to 68-63 with 1:34 left.
Thompson finished with a game-high 25 points after scoring 17 in the first half. He also had six assists and three steals in 39 minutes.
“The last four minutes, it was do or die,” Thompson said. “We just had to keep pressuring the ball.”
Mocs coach John Shuman was happy to be able to hold on to the lead and credited Thompson Appalachian State coach Houston Fancher for leading the Mountaineers back.
“We did not bring our ‘A’ game, but we still won,” Mocs coach John Shuman said. “Give a lot of credit to Houston and to D.J. Thompson. Wow, what a competitor.”
Chattanooga, which had no players on the coach’s or media’s all-Southern Conference teams, had just enough to hold off the Mountaineers. Kendrick Mays hit the first of two key 3-pointers soon afterward, which helped keep Appalachian State from getting any closer than three points.
“They hit a lot of threes in the end that allowed them to come back,” said Mays, who finished with a team-high 16 points. “If we had not made any of our own, we wouldn’t be sitting here. My feet were behind the line, so I was going to let it go.”
Thompson had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer with less than five seconds left, but could not convert. Chattanooga’s Casey Long rebounded Thompson’s miss, but dribbled out of bounds with it. Thompson was fouled with 2.4 seconds left, made his first foul shot and missed his second.
Ricky Hood rebounded for Chattanooga and hit a final foul shot to ice the game.
“We were down 16 with just seven minutes to go and we had to reach deep to find the energy to make a game out of it,” Fancher said.
Appalachian State had plenty of energy at the start of the game. The Mountaineers surged to a 15-2 lead helped by two 3-pointers from Nate Cranford and capped by a basket off a drive by Demetrius Scott.
Chattanooga eventually regrouped. After trailing 23-12, the Mocs went on a 12-0 run, capped by an Anderson basket inside, and took a 24-23 lead. Appalachian State seized control by going on an 8-0 burst, but Chattanooga came back with a half-ending 12-3 run capped by Cherry’s 3-pointer.