Mountaineers

glide by Paladins
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

The gold uniforms. The return of injured center Ike Butts. The return
to the friendly confines of the Holmes Center.

Yes, Appalachian State needed a game like this.

The Mountaineers, smarting from a two-game losing streak last week,
needed an outlet to vent their frustration. Furman, a team that may not
win 10 games this year, was conveniently available Thursday night.

Appalachian State’s 90-77 victory over the Paladins may look like
Furman hung in there with the Mountaineers. However, Appalachian State
took a 51-26 lead and pushed it to 31 points two times in the second
half. The 51 points were the most the Mountaineers have scored in a
half all season.

It was a big difference from Appalachian State’s losses to Elon and UNC
Greensboro last week. In both games, the Mountaineers fell behind and
could not come back. On Thursday, the Mountaineers, wearing gold
uniforms for the first time this season, led most of the game.

“The main thing was I think we forgot about our past,” guard Kellen
Brand said. “We stepped out tonight. We were trying to find our
identity. That’s just coming out and playing tough and playing
together.”

Appalachian State (17-10 12-6 SoCon), which clinched a first-round bye
in the Southern Conference Tournament, swarmed the Paladins (6-21,
5-13) with 23 assists on 35 made baskets. Fourteen of them were from
centers and forwards, including six from 6-foot-7 forward Jeremy
Clayton and four from Butts, a 6-10 freshman center who returned to the
court after injuring his knee against Chattanooga in January.

“If you look at the first half, we had 14 assists at halftime and 10
were from post players,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher said. “They
did a great job of sharing the basketball and they played the game
inside-out.”

The Mountaineers’ generosity allowed five players to score in double
figures and two more to score eight points. Donte Minter scored 15
points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 accuracy from the
free throw line.

Clayton added 14 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, seven on the
offensive end. It was his sixth double-double of the season and the 44
points the Mountaineers scored inside was a season high.

Points also arrived from outside of the paint. Donald Sims and Kellen
Brand each scored 14 points and Ryan Abraham scored 10. Eduardo
Bermudez added eight points and six rebounds.

As a team, the Mountaineers hit 11-of-22 3-point shots, including four
from Sims, who was back in the starting lineup after a one-game hiatus
in a loss to UNC Greensboro last Saturday. Overall, the Mountaineers
shot 48 percent from the field for the game, 56.8 percent in the first
half.

“We had to start our offense with inside touches and work it back out
and not be as scared to knock down shots from the perimeter,” Fancher
said. “Our guys stepped up and did that today.”

Arguably, the best news for the Mountaineers, outside of clinching a
first-round bye, was the successful return of Butts, who had eight
points and eight rebounds. He hit 4-of-8 shots from the field and also
blocked two shots in just 18 minutes.

Fancher said Butts was able to play so much because he kept himself in
shape while injured.

“That’s a testament to what Ike’s done during the period when he was
hurt,” Fancher said. “He could have sat over there and gotten up to
over 400 pounds. He’s really worked during this time not only to get
his knee better, but to stay in shape.”

Appalachian State took a 63-32 lead, the Mountaineers’ largest, on a
Brand 3-pointer with 16:20 left in the game. The Mountaineers led by 31
points a final time on an inside basket by Butts with 10:25, which gave
them a 78-47 advantage.

Furman chipped away at the Mountaineers advantage the rest of the game,
but never getting closer than the final 13-point Appalachian State
lead. George Brozos led the Paladins with 17 points and six rebounds,
while Noah States added 16 points. Alex Opacic scored 13 off the bench.

“There are two teams in the league right now that give us problems
because of their physicality around the basket, and maybe a third team
if you include Georgia Southern,” Furman coach Jeff Jackson said. “That
would be when we play Appalachian State and when we play Davidson. I
felt we did a decent job getting the ball inside, but we didn’t finish
and that’s tough. Their physicality creates that.”

The Mountaineers face Niagara Saturday in a BracketBusters game at the
Holmes Center beginning at 1 p.m. The Purple Eagles boast the leading
scorer in the nation in 6-4 sophomore forward Charron Fisher and
another outstanding scorer in 5-11 guard Tyrone Lewis.

Appalachian State 90, Furman 77
Furman (6-21, 5-13)
Brozos 6-13 5-5 17, Nolte 3-6 0-0 8, States 6-10 1-2 16, Dehm 3-7 0-0
8, Evans 1-7 0-0 2, Austin 2-3 1-2 5, Miller 3-5 2-3 8, Anderson 0-2
0-0 0, Opacic 4-8 5-6 13. Totals 28-61 14-18 77.
Appalachian State (17-10, 12-6)
Clayton 6-14 2-2 14, Minter 5-7 5-5 15, Sims 4-9 2-2 14, Bermudez 3-7
0-0 8, Brand 6-11 0-0 14, Abraham 4-5 2-2 10, Archer 0-1 0-0 0, Booth
2-5 0-0 5, McMillan 0-1 0-00, Highsmith 0-1 0-0 0, Butts 4-8 0-0 8,
Bowne 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 35-72 9-9 90.
Halftime score—ASU 51, Furman 26. 3-point goals—Furman 7-20 )States
3-4, Nolte 2-4, Dehm 2-4, Opacic 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Miller 0-1, Evans
0-2, Brozos 0-3), ASU 11-22 (Sims 4-8, Abraham 2-2, Bermudez 2-3, Brand
2-4, Booth 1-3, McMillan 0-1, Highsmith 0-1). Rebounds—Furman 31
(Brozos 6), ASU 41 (Clayton 13). Assists—Furman 12 (Three players with
three), ASU 23 (Clayton 6). Turnovers-Furmn 13, ASU 11. Total
fouls—Furman 7, ASU 16. Fouled