We're LIVE from Holmes Convocation Center on a cold icy night for Appalachian State basketball's conference home opener against the Phoenix of Elon University.The Mountaineers are an even 5-5 on the year and 2-0 in conference. The Phoenix are 4-6, with a 1-1 mark within the Southern Conference. The matchup is also a North Division showdown. Appalachian is hoping to bounce back after a blowout loss at Texas last Friday night.
Stay tuned as we'll provide updates regularly from tonight's contest.
7:10 PM - first media timeout of the half, Appalachian lead it by a 9-6 score. The Mountaineers have missed a couple of shots early on, as Ryann Abraham has tallied 7 of Appalachian's nine points in the first four minutes plus.
7:20 PM - 11:26 remains in the half and the Mountaineers lead 13-11. Elon leading scorer Brett James has 4 of the 11 for the Phoenix, while Abraham has 9 of App's 13. A sloppy game being played by the Mountaineers on both ends of the floor, primarily on the offensive end, as the team has been inconsistent in setting up its offenses. We'll see if that cleans up as the game moves on.
7:30 PM - Appalachian has built a 24-17 lead with 6:28 to go in the half. The two teams combined for a paltry 11 of 27 shooting percentage, but Appalachian has indeed picked up the shooting accuracy. Josh Hunter has four points for ASU, Abraham leads ASU with 11, and Jeremi Booth added a triple for the Mountaineers.
7:35 PM - 3:21 to go before halftime. Appalachian holds a seven-point lead at 31-24. Ola Atoyebi has headed up for six points to lead Elon, while Eduardo Bermudez has added four points for ASU. On a side note, former UNC standout Wes Miller serves as an assistant coach in his first season at Elon. (Obligatory Tar Heel alum shout out).
7:40 PM - Elon takes a 30-second timeout after an exchange that saw Andre Williamson stuff an Elon shot on defense and Kellen Brand drain a three-pointer on the other end. App's lead is at double-figures for the first time tonight at 35-25 with 1:03 left before halftime.7:45 PM - Halftime at the Black Hole, and the Mountaineers go into the locker room with a lead at 38-27. Ryann Abraham drained a three-pointer from about 25 feet out as the half expired. After a sluggish first part of the half, ASU awakened to put together a good run to close the half. Halftime stats and more to come...
8:00 PM - Ryann Abraham leads the Mountaineers with 14 first half points, while Ike Butts has been held to only a pair of first half rebounds and four points, quite a bit off his near-double-double average. Ola Atoyebi leads Elon with 6 points, with six also from Josh Bonney. Appalachian shot 52 percent in the first half from the field, and was 5 of 9 from three-point range. Elon shot only 44 percent in the half, and was only 3 of 8 from the free throw line. Mountaineers lead by 11 as the second half begins!
8:10 PM - With 15:37 remaining in the game the Mountaineers have stretched its lead to 49-34. a three-pointer by Donald Sims entices Elon head coach Ernie Nestor to take a time out. The Mountaineers have improved on the glass and have hustled to get itself a number of offensive rebounds in the first four minutes of this second half.
8:17 PM - A three-pointer, followed by a defensive block that sparked the fast break leading to another three ball from Bermudez stakes the Mountaineers to its biggest lead of the night, 54-34 with 13:16 left on the clock. Elon takes another timeout to stem the momentum.
8:20 PM - We hit the under 12 minute media timeout, and ASU leads it 56-37 over Elon. Kellen Brand has joined Ryann Abraham in double-figures scoring with 11 points. Brand also leads the team with six rebounds for the game. T.J. Douglas has nine points and four different Elon players are tied with six points apiece to lead the Phoenix.
8:30 PM - 7:58 to go and the Mountaineers maintain a 19-point lead at 61-42. Elon has shown nothing to indicate that they can mount a significant comeback as the Mountaineers seem to find another gear anytime they need to do so. Eduardo Bermudez has added to the double-figures parade with 13 points for Appalachian to go with Brand's 14 and Abraham's 14 points. The guards have had their way with the Phoenix thus far this evening.
8:38 PM - After a Kellen Brand three-pointer, Coach Nestor takes a timeout with 3:13 left to play. ASU has its biggest lead of the night (again...) at 71-48. Elon appears set to lose its third in a row and fall to 4-7, while Appalachian is set to move to 3-0 in conference and 6-5 overall.
8:45 PM - ASU leads 74-50 and the reserves are in for the Mountaineers! Kellen brand finishes with 17 points in this one to lead all scorers. Abraham finishes with 14 with 13 from Bermudez. Sims, Booth, and Hunter each end with seven points. T.J. Douglas finishes as the only Phoenix player with double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Final Score from The Black Hole: ASU 76, Elon 52. ASU returns to action with a 3:30 pm tip time on Saturday afternoon against UNC-Greensboro. Thanks for reading the Blog!
