Appalachian State has had its share of good games at McKenzie Arena. Then there have been times when things have not gone so well.

They’ll get another chance to win in the arena Friday afternoon when they take on Georgia Southern in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.

The Mountaineers have beaten Georgia Southern 95-82 in Statesboro, Ga. already this season, but lost to Chattanooga in McKenzie in overtime. Appalachian State, the number four seed from the North Division, is looking to win its first Southern Conference Tournament since 2000 and its first under current coach Houston Fancher.

“At this point in time, it’s one and done for every team playing,” Fancher said. “At this point in time, you want to see teams being competitive as they can possibly be. You’ll see teams laying it all out on the floor from here on out.”

The road to the finals is not an easy one. Should they beat Georgia Southern, they’ll take on Davidson Saturday. Davidson had the best overall and league record in the Southern Conference this year, and beat Appalachian State 70-52 in front of a record crowd at the Holmes Center of 8,350.

But that is a long way away. The Mountaineers (12-17, 9-11 SoCon) must get past a Georgia Southern team that slumped to a 5-15 SoCon record, 8-21 overall.

Fancher expects an athletic Georgia Southern group that includes leading scorer Antonio Hanson, a 6-foot-2 guard who scores 11.9 points per game. Point guard Ben Drayton averages 11.7 points per game and 6-7 forward Tyler Troupe is third on the team in scoring with 9.6 per game.

“Georgia Southern is going to be hungry,” Fancher said. “Jeff Price does a good job with his kids and I don’t think they’re going to be any less dangerous.”

Appalachian State will counter with second-team All-Southern Conference guard Kellen Brand, who scores 15.0 points per game. Fellow guard Donald Sims chips in 13.7 points per game, including a 35-point performance in a home win against Chattanooga last week.

In the middle, the Mountaineers have 6-foot-10 center Ike Butts (8.7 points, 8.6 rebounds per game) and forward Josh Hunter, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds in Appalachian State’s final game of the season, a 72-63 loss to Samford.

Fancher would like to see all of his starters, including guard Donterious Hughes, be able to reach their scoring and rebounding averages each game, instead of disappearing for whatever reason.

“This would be a good time for it,” Fancher said. “The thing about the tournament is that we’ve got a lot of young guys in the tournament. We have a lot of first-time players except for Donald and Kellen.”