Mountaineers roll past Mocs

By Steve Behr
 
Appalachian State guard Donald Sims brought back memories of past Mountaineers sharpshooters who have victimized Chattanooga.

There was Noah Brown, who scored 35 points in a 2004 game against the Mocs. Then there was Nate Cranford, who dropped 10 3-pointers in a 2007 game against Chattanooga.

Sims tied Brown’s 3-point total of nine and his 35-point total in Appalachian State’s 88-82 victory over the Mocs Thursday in front of 1,387 at the Holmes Center. The sophomore hit 9-of-16 3-point attempts, including a critical 25-footer with 58 seconds left that gave the Mountaineers an 85-82 lead.

So the question in the post-game interviews was asked: Was it a bad shot? Since it went in, Sims felt it was a good one.

“If I would have missed it, it would have been (a bad shot),” Sims said. “(But) I made it. We were kind of stagnant in that situation. We had a play called and we got stagnant and we didn’t know what we were doing. I was trying to be aggressive and take the shot and hopefully Ike (Butts) or Josh (Hunter) would get the rebound. It went in for us, so it was a good shot for us.”

Appalachian State (12-16, 9-10 SoCon) got a stop on Chattanooga’s next possession when Stephen McDowell, the Southern Conference’s second-leading scorer, missed a 3-point attempt and Hunter rebounded. Another Sims 3-pointer, this time with 14 seconds left, was the final nail in the Mocs’ coffin.

The 35 points was a career high for Sims, whose previous high of 29 points was scored on Feb. 2 at Georgia Southern.

“It was a great shot,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher said. “The one that he took when it was tied, they had just made a free throw and the game’s tied and Donald wants to take those shots. He’s going to sink or swim with it and I’m fine with that. Him shooting a shot from 25 feet in is like a layup for a lot of our players.”

Sims combined with fellow guard Kellen Brand to score 53 points. Brand finished with 18 points despite making just 1-of-7 from 3-point range, and added seven assists. The Mountaineers’ starters finished with 85 of the team’s 88 points, with Donterious Hughes scoring 13 points and Butts, Appalachian State’s 6-foot-10 center, scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in 16 foul-trouble plagued minutes.

Even with the bench scoring just three points, those coming on an A.J. Highsmith 3-pointer, Fancher was happy with the way the subs played. Andre Williamson did not take a shot, but he pulled down eight rebounds before fouling out.

“That’s 19 rebounds in the last two games,” Fancher said of Williamson, a freshman. “He had 11 at Winthrop and eight tonight and he’s taken on that role. If he scores points, that’s fine. He knows his job is to rebound and block shots for us.”

It was enough to counter the 16 points McDowell finished with, though he was held to just one in the first half when Appalachian State took a 48-38 halftime lead. Khalil Hartwell and Keyron Sheard each finished with 14 points and Kevin Goffney scored 13 for the Mocs (15-15, 11-8).

Appalachian State stayed in the hunt for a second-place finish in the Southern Conference’s North Division. The Mountaineers host Samford Saturday, while Western Carolina, who went into Thursday’s games in second place in the North, hosts Chattanooga Saturday.

Western beat Samford 65-58 Thursday night.

“It’s going to come down to the last game of the season to determine when we play,” Fancher said. “To be honest with you, second or third is fine with me. Whatever we do is fine with me, because I can’t think there are going to be a lot of people who are looking forward to playing us come tournament time.”

Appalachian State looked to be in control of he game when it took a 48-38 halftime lead. The Mountaineers led 56-42 when the Mocs regrouped and went on a 12-0 run to close to within 56-54.

Chattanooga did not take the lead until McDowell nailed a jumpshot with 4:07 left to put the Mocs in front 76-75. Sims fired back with a 3-pointer and Appalachian State did not trail the rest of the game, though the Mocs pulled even at 82-82 with a Nicchaeus Doaks foul shot with 1:18 left.

“I knew that Houston would have them ready and they were ready,” Chattanooga coach John Shulman said. “I thought they played good and they whipped our tail on the glass.”

Appalachian State overcame 19 turnovers by dishing out 21 assists. The Mountaineers made 31-of-55 shots, good for 56.4 percent, from the field, and outrebounded the Mocs 42-26.

Appalachian State hit 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the field in the second half. Chattanooga hit 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field for the game.

Appalachian State 88, Chattanooga 82
Chattanooga (15-15, 11-8)
Goffney 5-12 2-4 13, Doaks 2-7 4-8 8, Hartwell 4-6 6-9 14, McDowell 6-14 1-2 16, Sheard 4-5 4-6 12, Williams 2-4 0-0 5, Harvey 0-1 2-2 2, Early 0-2 0-1 0, Ferrell 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor 1-3 0-0 2, Patterson 1-3 0-0 2, Saffore 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 28-61 19-32 82.
Appalachian State (12-16, 9-10)
Hunter 2-6 3-6 7, Butts 5-5 2-2 12, Sims 11-18 4-5 35, Brand 8-14 1-2 18, Hughes 4-6 5-5 13, Dowdell 0-0 0-0 0, Booth 0-1 0-0 0, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Highsmith 1-3 0-0 3, Webb 0-1 0-0 0, Williamson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-55 15-20 88.
Halftime score–ASU 48, UTC 38. 3-point goals—UTC 7-21 (McDowell 3-6, Sheard 2-3, Goffney 1-3, Williams 1-3, Harvey 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Doaks 0-2, Patterson 0-2), ASU 11-28 (Sims 9-16, Highsmith 1-3, Brand 1-7, Booth 0-1, Wright 0-1). Rebound—UTC 26 (Goffney, Doaks 5), ASU 42 (Butts 10). Assists—UTC 14 (Patterson 5), ASU 21 (Brand 7). Turnovers—UTC 9, ASU 19. Total fouls—UTC 19, ASU 23. Fouled out—UTC Sheard; ASU, WIlliamson. Technical fouls—None. Att.—1,387.