Curry shoots Wildcats past ASU
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Stephen Curry could get used to shooting baskets at the Holmes Center.

The Davidson guard riddled Appalachian State for 38 points in leading the Wildcats to a 71-60 Monday night in the Mountaineers’ fist Southern Conference game. Curry scored the first two points of the game when the Wildcats (3-2, 1-0 SoCon) worked a play off the opening tap that allowed Thomas Sander to hit Curry for an easy layup.

Curry took it from there by making his first five shots, four of them 3-pointers, and rolling to 26 first-half points.

“That number 30, I’ve never seen him before, but he’s pretty good,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher joked about Curry.

“He played like an All-American tonight,” Fancher said seriously. “He’s a really nice player. We were worried about (Jason) Richards too and he’s a really good player, but Curry was phenomenal tonight. He really carried them tonight.”

It really didn’t seem to matter who was guarding Curry or where he got the ball. Curry scored his points either driving to the basket, in transition or by spotting up along the 3-point line, where he nailed 9-of-16 attempts.

Davidson also set its share of screens to get Curry open. His 38 points are the most any player has scored in the Holmes Center.

“Stephen is a great player,” Mountaineers guard Ryann Abraham said. “You have to step up and guard him. He stepped out and made his shots. Everything he shot went in.”

“There were a couple of times when we messed up on switches,” Fancher added. “We lost him on transition a couple of times. He made some tough shots.”

“He made some big-time threes and he got a couple of trash buckets on some offensive rebounds,” Fancher said.

Davidson shot 53 percent from the field in the first half and took a 42-28 lead that the Mountaineers could not overcome. The Wildcats, ranked in the top 25 last week before losing to Western Michigan, led by as many as 17 points.

Curry had some help. The Wildcats got 13 points from Sander and 10 from Boris Meno. Appalachian State countered with 19 points from Ryann Abraham on 8-of-12 shooting. Kellen Brand chipped in 12 points.

Davidson also scored 71 points, even though the Wildcats hit just 1-of-2 from the foul line. Curry did the honors. Appalachian State hit 9-of-15 from the free throw line.

The Mountaineers had once chance to catch the Wildcats in the second half. Trailing 50-34, the Mountaineers worked their way back into the game. It ws 55-45 when the Mountaineers went on a brief 4-0 run on an inside bucket by Donte Minter and two foul shots by Brand, leaving the Wildcats in front 55-49.

Davidson sealed the game in the next few minutes, beginning with a 3-pointer by Bryan Barr. Appalachian State freshman guard Donald Sims missed an ill-advised 3-pointer, and Curry responded with a trey of his own to push the Wildcats’ lead back to 61-49.

Another Curry 3-pointer left the Wildcats in front 64-49 and back in control of the game.

“Brian hit a big three for us,” Curry said. “Then I was able to hit two shots. It was big because it got the game back on our side.”

It was a rough start to the beginning of one of the most challenging weeks in the Appalachian State season.

The Mountaineers host Wichita State Thursday in the Shockers’ return of the team’s BracketBusters game that Appalachian State won last year.

The Mountaineers follow with another SoCon game at a solid Georgia Southern team that is already 1-0 in the league.

“That was a quality basketball team that was in here tonight, no question about it,” Fancher said. “They’re 11 points better than we are right now for sure. I thought our kids fought very hard to get back in the basketball game.”

Davidson 71, App. State 60
Davidson (3-2, 1-0 SoCon)
Meno 5-9 0-0 10, Sander 6-10 0-0 13, Richards 1-9 0-0 2, Paulhus Gosselin 0-2 0-0 0, Curry 14-27 1-2 38, Archambault 0-1 0-0 0, Rossiter 0-0 0-0 0, Barr 2-5, 0-0 6, Lovedale 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 29-66 1-2 71.
Appalachian State (3-3, 0-1)
Clayton 1-2 0-0 2, Bowne 1-4 0-0 2, Abraham 8-12 0-1 19, Bermdez 1-6 0-0 3, Brand 4-8 3-4 12, Sims 1-3 0-0 3, Booth 0-0 0-0 0, Butts 1-1 1-2 3, McLaughlin-Williams 2-3 2-2 7, Minter 3-7 3-6 9. Totals 22-46 9-15 60.
Halftime score—Davidson 42, ASU 28. 3-point goals—Davidson 12-32 (Curry 9-16, Barr 2-4, Sander 1-2, Meno 0-1, Archambault 0-1, Paulhus Gosselin 0-2), ASU 7-20 (Abraham 3-5, McLaughlin-Williams 1-2, Sims 1-3, Brand 1-4, Bermudez 1-6). Rebounds—Davidson 35 (Sander, Curry 6), ASU 30 (Minter 6). Assists—Davidson 17 (Richards 7), ASU 13 Abraham 4). Steals—Davidson 6 (Curry 4), ASU 4 (Abraham 3). Turnovers—Davidson 11, ASU 17. Total fouls—Davidson 16, ASU 9. Fouled out—None. Techincal fouls—None.