ASU hosts

Paladins Thursday
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

There was a time of the season when Appalachian State was one of the hottest teams in the Southern Conference.

They had won nine out of 10 games with one of the victories being an upset win over Arkansas. They had scored a minimum of 84 points during a four-game stretch, all victories, and looked ready to run away with the North Division championship.

Since then, the Mountaineers have cooled off. After winning four out of five, the Mountaineers have lost their last two games, both on the road and both against North Division opponents.

They get a chance to rekindle that spark that pushed them to the top of the North Thursday at the Holmes Center when they host Furman, a team they beat 84-66 on Jan. 24.

“We’re probably the most discouraged first-place team in the country,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher told those assembled at the Tip-Off Luncheon at the Broyhill Inn Monday.

Appalachian State enters a part of its schedule that has them playing three of their final four games at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers can clinch a bye in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament with a win Thursday.

“Winning the North is well and good, but we’d like to get a bye and get past the first day,” Fancher said.

The Mountaineers host Niagara, featuring the leading scorer in the nation in Charron Fisher (28.2 points per game), Saturday at 1 p.m. The time was switched from 3 p.m. to accomodate Niagara’s travel plans.

That’s followed by a rematch with Davidson, which was 17-0 in the SoCon heading into Wednesday night.

That game, the Mountaineers’ final regular season game on the road, features the Wildcats’ high-scoring Stephen Curry, who is fourth in the country in scoring at 25.6 points per game. Davidson has won 27 straight SoCon games dating back to last year, when Appalachian State beat the Wildcats at Belk Arena.

Appalachian State finally concludes its regular season March 1 at home against rival Western Carolina.

The Mountaineers are currently tied with Chattanooga in the North with matching 11-6 SoCon records.

Making things even more complicated is that UNC Greensboro is 8-7 (14-10 overall) in the North Division.

All are competing with Davidson, Georgia Southern, College of Charleston and Elon for five first-round byes in the Southern Conference Tournament.

Appalachian State would like to rediscover its offense from the outside. The Mountaineers hit just 4-of-16 3-point attempts against UNC Greensboro.

Inside, Donte Minter scored 12 points against Greensboro and 20 against Elon.

The Mountaineers are taking on a Furman team that is 4-12 in the Southern Confernece, 5-19 overall. The Paladins surprised UNC Greensboro with a 69-59 win on Feb. 10, holding the Spartans to 30.2 percent shooting. George Brozos had his first double-double of the season, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.