ASU tames

Cavaliers
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Appalachian State, playing for the first time in 16 days, needed a victory.

Still feeling the sting of a three-game losing streak, the Mountaineers found some healing in an 82-77 victory over a scrappy UVa.-Wise team that never let the Mountaineers lead by more than 10 points the entire game.

It’s not like the Mountaineers (4-5) played poorly. They shot 50 percent from the field (24-of-48) and they outrebounded the Cavaliers 45-25. Jeremy Clayton pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds and blocked three shots.

“I guess I was in the right place in the right time,” Clayton said. “A few times my man didn’t come in, so I was allowed to freelance around and try to get rebounds. That made it kind of easy.”

But UVa.-Wise (6-8) warmed up from the 3-point range, hitting 13-of-34 from beyond the arc. Pance Kecev did the most damage, hitting 6-of-12 from behind the arc and finished with 20 points.

Adam Hood hit 4-of-10 of his 3-point shots and finished with 16 points.

Appalachian State countered by making 29-of-34 foul shots, compared to just 4-of-6 for UVa.-Wise.

“I think they played well,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher said. “The 3-pointer was the equalizer tonight and the free throws were what pushed us over the top tonight. They shot the ball extremely well and coming into games like this, it one of those nothing-to-lose type games. They came in with nothing to lose and played free and loose.”

UVa.-Wise also did a good job of taking care of the basketball, committing just eight turnovers. Appalachian State showed signs of rust in this area, giving the ball back to the Cavaliers 16 times.

“We played well on the defensive end and for us, the long ball has to fall,” UVa.-Wise coach Lee Clark said.

“Tonight, luckily, quite a few did. For them, obviously, they were able to step up and make their free throws.
Kellen Brand led Appalachian State in scoring with 17 points. He was one of five Mountaineers in double figures.

Eduardo Bermudez scored 12 points, and Donald Sims came off the bench to score 11. Ryann Abraham and Isaac Butts each had 10 points.

It took Appalachian State a while to get started. UVa.-Wise, behind back-to-back 3-point shots from Kecev, claimed a 21-16 lead with 8:43 left in the first half. The Mountaineers rallied to claim 42-35 halftime lead and never gave it back.

Appalachian Sate took its largest lead with 10:54 left in the game on two foul shots by Sims, which put the Mountaineers in front 63-53. UVa.-Wise closed to within three points (78-75) with 19.6 seconds left, and again with 5.4 seconds left (80-77) left before Abraham nailed two foul shots to seal the win.

The Mountaineers scrimmaged Liberty during their layoff to try to stay sharp, but struggled early in falling behind by five points.

“We practiced really hard,” Clayton said. “We knew we had to step it up a notch because we came off a double-digit beaten by Georgia Southern on TV. We came out flat and played at their level. Give them all the credit. They were the better team tonight. We just eked out a win. I give a lot of credit to UVa.-Wise for how they brought it to us today.”

The Mountaineers set their sites on Arkansas, one of the powers in the Southeastern Conference. Appalachian State plays the Razorbacks Saturday in Little Rock, Ark.

“You look at UVa.-Wise and you think that may be our only opportunity to see somebody who really isn’t going to challenge us, but up to this point, everybody we’ve faced has been a major challenge,” Fancher said.

“We found a way to win four of them and we’ve got five. It’s certainly going to be a challenge going into this hostile environment.”

Appalachian State 82, UVa.-Wise 77
UVa.-Wise (6-8)
Sexton 3-7 2-2 8, Gibson 0-3 0-1 0, Blackwell 0-3 0-1 4, Soles 6-10 0-0 13, Kecev 7-16 0-0 20, Swords 3-5 0-0 6, Amis 3-9 0-0 8, Hood 5-11 2-2 16, Adams 0-3 0-0 0, Brannon 0-0 0-0 0, Sorensen 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 30-73 4-6 77.
Appalachian State (4-5)
Clayton 3-4 3-6 9, Minter 2-4 0-0 4, Abraham 1-4 8-8 10, Bermudez 3-6 5-6 12, Brand 6-12 3-4 17, Sims 1-3 8-8 10, Booth 0-1 0-0 0, Highsmith 3-4 0-0 7, Butts 4-7 2-2 10, Bowne 1-1 0-0 2, McLaughlin-Williams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 29-34 82.
Halftime score—ASU 42, Wise 35. 3-point goals—Wise 13-34 (Kecev 6-12, Hood 4-10, Amis 2-6, Soles 1-2, Gibson 0-2, Swords 0-1), ASU 5-14 (Brand 2-4, Highsmith 1-1, Sims 1-3, Bermudez 1-3, Abraham 0-2, Booth 0-1). Rebounds—Wise 25 (Sexton 5), ASU 45 (Clayton 14). Assists—Wise 10 (Swords 3), ASU 15 (Sims 4). Turnovers—Wise 8, ASU 16. Total fouls—Wise 26, ASU 15. Fouled out—Sexton. Technical fouls—Adams, Clayton. A—1,129.