Mountaineers begin

road trip with victory
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Facing three games in the state of South Carolina in one week, Appalachian State did not want to get off to a slow start.

The Mountaineers assured themselves of winning at least one game in the Palmetto State with a 70-66 victory over College of Charleston in front of 3,127 at cozy John Kresse Arena Thursday night.

Getting the first win on the three-game tour would not be easy, but it was rewarding for the Mountaineers, who picked up their first Southern Conference victory of the season. After losses to South Division rivals Davidson and Georgia Southern, the Mountaineers’ win over the Cougars left them 1-2 in the SoCon, 6-6 overall.

The Mountaineers never led by more than seven points and after leading for most of the first half, found themselves behind 46-39 with 12:21 left in the game. They rallied to tie the game at 47-47 and then as the game wore on, Appalachian State made several key plays down the stretch to win the game.

The first big play was an offensive rebound by Jeremi Booth, who found Donald Sims for a 3-point basket. The shot gave the Mountaineers a 54-51 lead they would never lose.

The second big play happened with 3:08 left when Donte Minter worked a backdoor pass to Jeremy Clayton, who thundered home a slam dunk to keep the Mountaineers in front 60-57. Charleston turned the ball over and Booth answered with a 3-point shot to give the Mountaineers a 63-57 lead.

From there, the big plays came from the foul line. The Mountaineers buried seven of their final eight free throws to preserve the victory.

Appalachian State hit 16-of-20 foul shots in the game.

Minter built the foundation of the victory by scoring 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Minter, who hit 7-of-11 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the foul line, scored nine points in the first half, which Appalachian State led 29-28 at halftime.

Booth added 10 points and Sims, who has hit 30 straight foul shots over his last five games, had nine. McLaughlin-Williams scored six of his nine points on two 3-point bombs in the first half.

All 10 Mountaineers who played broke into the scoring column. The Mountaineers also helped themselves by committing just five of their 12 turnovers in the second half.

Jermaine Johnson did his share to keep the Cougars close. The 6-foot-8 center scored 17 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Tony White, Jr. added 13 points and freshman Andrew Goudelock chipped in 12.