Samford spoils

ASU’s bid for bye
By Steve Behr

It was all there for Appalachian State to take. All the Mountaineers had to do was beat Samford in front of an enthusiastic Holmes Center crowd of 2,602 and then they could do no worse than earn the third seed from the North Division in the Southern Conference Tournament.

A win, coupled with a Western Carolina loss, would have given Appalachian State the No. 2 seed from the North and a bye in the first round of the tournament. All of that seemed possible when the Mountaineers led by eight points with 14 minutes left in their game with Samford.

Then things went terribly wrong.

For starters, Western Carolina knocked off Chattanooga 86-77 Saturday night, thus keeping Appalachian State from any chance of earning the second seed. Both Western and Chattanooga are 11-9 in the SoCon and on top of the North Division, but Chattanooga won the tiebreaker and has the division’s No. 1 seed.

Before that game even started, Samford was clinching the No. 3 seed against the Mountaineers. The Bulldogs cranked out a 23-4 run that lasted about nine minutes, and cruised to a 68-59 victory. Appalachian State (12-17, 9-11 SoCon) settled for a tie with Samford for third place in the SoCon’s North Division, but will be the division’s fourth seed in the tournament this upcoming weekend because the Mountaineers were swept by Samford (14-15, 9-11). Appalachian State will face the No. 5 seed from the South, which will either be Georgia Southern or Furman in the first round of the tournament, which is at 2 p.m. Friday at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Citadel plays at Georgia Southern and Furman plays at Wofford Monday night.

“It’s going to put us as the number-four seed,” Moun-taineers coach Houston Fancher said. “We can’t be concerned where we’re going to end up. We’re fourth now, so it’s going to be more challenging of a bracket.”

A sloppy second-half collapse left Appalachian State playing the first game of the tournament Friday. The Mountaineers led 42-34 with 14 minutes left after Marcus Wright hit two foul shots.

But the Mountaineers suddenly stopped scoring and Samford made its move. Trailing 44-36, the Bulldogs scored the next eight points to tie the game at 44-44.

Josh Hunter hit two foul shots to put the Mountaineers up 46-44, but the Bulldogs went on another run, this time scoring the next 13 points to take a 57-46 lead with 5:39 left.

“We think it’s because we slowed down,” Samford coach Jimmy Tillette said. “We have a mantra ‘Slow down, shoot less, score more.’ We think it’s because we shot the ball slower in the second half.”

Appalachian State never got closer than seven points the rest of the game. Samford drained its last nine foul shots, and scored two more times from the field to ice the victory.

“We were turning the ball over at the time and not scoring,” Fancher said of Samford’s run. “You’ve got to guard two things with them. You’ve got to guard layups and three-pointers. Those are the only shots they take. Unfortunately, they were efficient on both fronts.”
  
As in other losses, turnovers hurt the Mountaineers against Samford. This time, 21 Appalachian State turnovers were converted into 32 Samford points.

One steal by Trey Montgomery ended up in a layup, giving the Bulldogs a 61-52 lead with 1:37 left in the game and, more or less, put the game out of reach for good. Montgomery hit all six of his foul shots, and as a team, Samford hit 18-of-21 foul shots. Appalachian State made 11-of-17.

Appalachian State guard Kellen Brand, who led the team with 21 points, said a lack of focus caused by the team relaxing when it was in front played a key role in the Mountaineers’ collapse.

“Coach always says not to take plays off,” Brand said. “We definitely did that. We took quite a few plays off tonight. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Donald Sims, who had 35 points two days before in a win over Chattanooga, settled for 10 points against Samford. Hunter also had 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds Saturday.
   
Andy King, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-8 center, led Samford with 20 points, hitting 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Montgomery added 17 points and Samford shot 52.3 percent from the field for the game, 58.3 percent in the second half.

Samford 72, ASU 63
Samford (14-15, 9-11)
B. Friday 1-7 5-6 7, King 6-9 4-5 20, West 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 3-8 0-1 7, Montgomery 5-8 6-6 17, Griffin 1-1 0-0 2, Merritt 1-2 0-0 2, Bedwell 4-6 0-0 10, M. Friday 2-2 1-1 5, Bermudez 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 23-44 18-21.
Appalachian State (12-17, 9-11)
Hunter 3-5 4-6 10, Butts 0-2 0-0 0, Sims 3-10 2-2 10, Bermudez 2-5 0-2 5, Brand 7-12 5-7 21, Dowdell 2-2 0-0 4, Hughes 2-3 0-1 4, Wright 3-3 2-2 8, Highsmith 0-3 0-0 0, Webb 0-0 0-0 0, Williamson 0-0 1-2 1.

Totals 22-52 11-17 63.
Halftime score—ASU 32, Samford 27. 3-point goals—Samford 8-21 (King 4-7, Bedwell 2-4, Montgomery 1-3, Davis 1-4, B. Friday 0-2, Davis 0-1), ASU 8-21 (Brand 5-7, Sims 2-6, Bermudez 1-3, Wright 0-2, Highsmith 0-3). Rebounds—Samford 26 (B. Friday 6), ASU 29 (Hunter 11). Assists—Samford 15 (Montgomery 5), ASU 7 (Wright 3). Turnovers—Samford 20, ASU 21. Total fouls—Samford 16, ASU 21. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None. Att.—2,602.