ASU storms

the Citadel in OT

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

A slow first half could not keep Appalachian State center Donte Minter from putting the Mountaineers on his shoulders Saturday.

Minter, the Mountaineers’ 6-foot-9 center and leading scorer, collected 22 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and an overtime period in Appalachian State’s 75-71 victory over The Citadel in front of 2,689 at the Holmes Center.

The Citadel nearly broke a 12-game Southern Conference losing streak and an overall 10-game skid by slowing the tempo with a patient offense that hit 15-of-28 3-point baskets.

However, Minter was too much for the Bulldogs (5-17, 0-13) to handle. He hit 8-of-9 of his shots and nine of his 10 free throws. Minter almost single handedly kept the Mountaineers (15-8, 10-4) from absorbing a huge upset loss by scoring two foul shots and then scoring twice from the field the game’s final 3:33.

His second basket, which was scored with 1:09 left, gave the Mountaineers a 61-60 lead. Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher said a quick talk with Minter that covered the need for Minter to be more aggressive offensively in the second half.

“He and I had a talk, a mostly one-sided conversation, to remind him of what his value was to this team and to what his role is to this team,” Fancher said. “He got in there and really established himself. The thing I’m really proud of is he’s come from being an OK free throw shooter to being one of the top (15) free throw shooters in the conference.”

Even with Minter’s late-game surge, The Citadel had a chance to win the game when Cameron Wells, one of 14 freshmen on the Bulldogs’ roster, was fouled with 3.6 seconds left in the game and with the Mountaineers still clinging to their 61-60 lead.

Wells hit his first free throw, but missed the second. After Appalachian state rebounded and called time out, the Mountaineers’ Ryann Abraham’s last second shot on the other end of the court did not go down, and the Mountaineers faced overtime for the first time this season.

It looked like they would win the overtime period going away after taking a 69-63 lead, the final three points scored on a Minter three-point play.

But after Abraham hit two more foul shots to put the Mountaineers in front 71-63, The Citadel buried two 3-pointers and a 2-point shot to pull to within 73-71. It took two Donald Sims foul shots with 5.9 seconds left and two missed Wells shots on the other end to finally give the Mountaineers their victory.

“Everybody was feeding me and Jeremy (Clayton) in the post,” Minter said. “We finished the plays today.”
Appalachian State, after taking a 5-0 lead, saw The Citadel score the next 19 points, the most consecutive points scored against the Mountaineers this year. Appalachian State finally recovered and led 29-23 at halftime after holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the final 4:47 of the first half.

Clayton scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, one short of his career high. It was also his fourth double-double of the season.

Sims added 13 points and Abraham scored 11.

The Citadel got 17 from Wells and 16 from Austin Dahn and Zach Urbanus, who combined to hit 9-of-18 3-pointers among them. The Bulldogs also limited the Mountaineers to 7-of-20 shooting from the 3-point arc.

“Fifteen is a high number,” Citadel coach Ed Conroy said. “I thought they got great pressure on us and I thought they defended well. We were able to break it down and get the ball into the paint and I thought we kicked it out and made the extra pass.”

“They came out and played hard, no matter what their record is,” Clayton said. “We came out and matched their intensity, but they were making tough shots. It made it kind of hard to play defense when they’re hitting tough shots.”

The Citadel is second in 3-point percentage (38.4 percent) in the Southern Conference. The leader, Wofford (41.5 percent) plays the Mountaineers at the Holmes Center Monday night. The Terriers are also first in scoring defense, giving up 64.7 points per game.

Appalachian State took advantage of 27 Citadel fouls by hitting 20-of-25 free throws, including 8-of-8 in the overtime period. The Bulldogs did not have nearly the same success, hitting 4-of-10 from the foul line.

Appalachian State 75, The Citadel 71 (OT)

The Citadel (5-17, 0-13)
McDowell 3-6 1-2 10, Dahn 6-12 1-2 16, Urbanus 6-15 0-0 16, Wells 7-18 1-2 17, Eykin 1-1 0-0 3, Brick 2-5 0-0 3, Dougan 0-0 1-4 1, Clark 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 26-60 4-10 71.
Appalachian State (15-8, 10-4)
Clayton 6-12 2-4 14, Minter 8-9, 9-10 25, Sims 3-9 5-5 13, Booth 2-8 0-0 5, Brand 0-4 4-6 4, Abraham 4-9 0-0 11, Bermudez 1-2 0-0 2, Highsmith 0-0 0-0 0, Bowne 0-0 0-0 0, McLaughlin-Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 20-25 75.
Halftime score—ASU 29, The Citadel 23. End of regulation—ASU 61, The Citadel 16. 3-point goals—The Citadel 15-28 (Urbanus 4-9, McDowell 3-5, Dahn 3-5, Wells 2-4, Eykyn 1-1, Brick 1-2, Clark 1-2; ASU 7-22 (Abraham 3-7, Sims 2-6, Bermudez 1-1, Booth 1-5, McLaughlin-Williams 0-1, Brand 0-2). Rebounds—The Citadel 31 (Wells 7); ASU 39 (Clayton 16). Assists—The Citadel 16 (Wells 6); ASU 11 (Abraham 3). Turnovers—The Citadel 10, ASU 15. Total fouls—The Citadel 27, ASU 13. Fouled out—The Citadel, McDowell, Eykin. Technical fouls—None. A—2,689.