Men’s Basketball: Mountaineers Down Davidson, Defense Vaults ASU Past Georgia Southern
Charlotte native Omar Carter put on a second-half show with 19 points after the intermission to lead Appalachian State University men’s basketball to a 74-66 win at Davidson on Jan. 5.
Carter finished with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds and a pair of assists, while Donald Sims added 14 points, four assists and two rebounds to help the Mountaineers (6-7, 2-1 SoCon) to a third-straight win against the Wildcats (7-7, 1-2).
ASU opened its largest lead of the game at 62-51 with just under four minutes to play in the contest when DC’s Brendan McKillop and JP Kuhlman drained back-to-back triples to pull within five points with two minutes on the clock.
Davidson then played 34 seconds of tough defense and forced Carter to launch a three-pointer from the left corner as the shot clock expired, which kissed the glass and put ASU back up by eight points.
Carter and Jeremi Booth then drained 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch and Mitch Woods broke free from a full-court trap for a layup with 22 seconds to play to keep the ‘Cats from pulling any closer than six points in the final minutes.
Booth scored nine points off the bench with a pair of rebounds in 21 minutes while Woods, who returned from injury after three games on the sideline, added five points, four rebounds and an assist. Petey Hausley scored seven points with five rebounds in the paint while Nathan Healy added eight points and six boards in 18 minutes off the bench before fouling out late in the contest. Andre Williamson was also plagued by foul trouble and added five points and three assists before collecting five fouls in just 15 minutes.
For Davidson, Jake Cohen was solid with 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks and was complemented by McKillop’s 12 points and three assists.
The contest got off to a slow, rough start, as both squads racked up fouls at the same rate as points before Davidson strung together a 9-2 run to open a five-point lead late in the period. ASU rallied to tie the score at 29-29 at the intermission behind a pair of three-pointers from Healy.
Neither team shot well in the first half as the ASU made just 39.3 percent from the field and were 3-of-10 from downtown, while Davidson shot 44.4 percent but missed all five 3-point attempts.
ASU sank 55.2 percent in the second half to finish the game at 47.4 percent, compared to 43.1 percent for the home team. ASU was 4-of-13 from downtown compared to 6-of-21 for DC.
The ‘Cats owned a 38-33 advantage on the boards but committed 16 turnovers to ASU’s 12. Davidson converted 16 second-chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds on the night.
On a snowy weekend for hoops, an early scoring burst allowed ASU to take a large first-half lead against Georgia Southern (GSU) and a solid defensive stand in the second half carried the Mountaineers to a 79-51 win last Saturday, Jan. 8, at the Holmes Center.
Carter had the hot hand early with 15 first-half points to help the Mountaineers to an early 28-14 advantage. Carter added 10 more after the intermission to lead all scorers with 25 on the afternoon. The junior guard was 8-of-15 on the day with five 3-pointers to accompany five rebounds and three steals.
GSU (4-13, 0-4 SoCon) cut its 14-point deficit to as close as five points before the break, before ASU stopped the rally to hold a 40-31 lead after 20 minutes of play.
ASU’s shooting touch cooled over half-time as the Mountaineers converted just one of their first eight shots to open the second half. GSU took advantage and climbed back within four points at 42-38. ASU then regained a double-figure cushion when GSU’s Cameron Baskerville converted a layup to cut ASU’s lead to 56-49 with eight minutes to play.
With the game in the balance, ASU then took off on a 20-0 run spanning the next five and a half minutes to lock down the victory. GSU scored just two points in the game’s final eight minutes.
ASU (7-7, 3-1) shot 46.9 percent from the field in the game and, after allowing GSU to make 13-of-24 shots in the first period, the Mountaineers locked down to keep the Eagles to 7-of-27 shooting in the second half.
Sims was 7-of-15 from the field for 19 points in addition to five rebounds and a team-high five assists. Sims was one of five players with at least five rebounds for the Black and Gold as the team held a 43-29 advantage on the glass.
Booth came off the bench to score 17 points with three rebounds and a pair of steals in 23 minutes for ASU. Williamson led ASU with seven rebounds, in addition to four assists, three points and a block. Healy scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 19 minutes.
GSU was led by 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting by Ben Drayton. The guard added four assists and four of the squad’s nine steals.
Rory Spencer added 15 points and seven rebounds but committed four of GSU’s 18 turnovers. The Eagles added nine assists and three blocks in the game. GSU’s 51 points are easily the fewest allowed by ASU this season, as Robert Morris and Davidson previously held the distinction with 66 points each against ASU.
ASU’s quick homestead wraps up at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 13, as the Mountaineers welcome North Division rival UNC Greensboro (0-14, 0-4) to the Holmes Center.
Women’s Basketball: Lady Mountaineers Cage Cougars, Roll Past Wofford
ASU women’s basketball rallied from a two-point half-time deficit and won its 13th straight home game last Wednesday, Nov. 5, notching a 78-62 win over College of Charleston, its fourth straight in the series.
ASU women’s basketball rallied from a two-point half-time deficit and won its 13th straight home game last Wednesday, Nov. 5, notching a 78-62 win over College of Charleston, its fourth straight in the series.
Suffering a 37-35 deficit at the break, the Black and Gold posted a 13-4 spurt in the opening minutes of second-half play to take the lead and never looked back.
After Cathryn Hardy connected on two free throws to begin the second period, the Lady Mountaineers answered with ten straight points to grab a six-point advantage. The scoring came from all over from ASU as Sam Ramirez, Anna Freeman, Courtney Freeman and Ashlen Dewart all contributed on the offensive front.
Continuing to fire on all cylinders, ASU extended its lead to 10 points off a Kelsey Sharkey free layup, making the score 58-48 in the Mountaineers’ favor.
Despite some late buckets by College of Charleston, ASU never led by less than 10 points and final jumpers by Canesha Edwards pushed ASU to the 16-point win. The impressive second-half by ASU proved to be the difference-maker in the contest, as ASU outscored its counterpart 43-25.
The stingy Mountaineer defense also stepped up in second half action, holding C of C to a dismal 20.6 field goal percentage, not allowing the Cougars to connect on a single three-pointer.
Sluggish and non-energetic play to start the game saw the Mountaineers fall behind by as many as nine-points, facing a 16-7 deficit just seven minutes into the game. Dewart and Ramirez stepped up however, and a Ramirez trey put ASU on top for the first time, taking a narrow 24-22 advantage with a little under eight minutes remaining until half-time.
The Cougars would not go away quietly, going on a 5-0 run in the waning minutes of first half play to lead by five, but fortunately for the Mountaineers, Ramirez drilled yet another trey and ASU went into the half down just two.
Appalachian picked up its pace in the second half and defensive domination coupled with offensive execution enabled ASU to earn their third conference win of the season.
Four Mountaineers ended the game in double-figures with Dewart scoring a game-best 19 points. Tallying her third double-double of the season, she also hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds. In addition to Dewart, Ramirez chipped in 17 points, Freeman 15 and Edwards scored 14.
On Saturday, Jan. 8, ASU rolled to its fourth-straight victory in routing Wofford 81-60 last Saturday, Jan. 8, on the Terriers’ home floor. The victory is ASU’s seventh straight over Wofford and improves ASU to 10-3 on the season and 4-1 in league play, while WC falls to 5-8 overall and 1-4 in SoCon action.
After ASU took a comfortable 44-28 lead into the half, Wofford began the second-half with a spark, outscoring ASU 7-2 to pull within 11 points a little under five minutes into the period. ASU responded however, countering with a 10-2 streak of its own, paced by Sam Ramirez, pushing the ASU lead back out to 56-37 with 9:37 remaining.
Ramirez had five points during the Mountaineer spurt, and ended the contest with a game-high 24, two shy of her career-high on 10-19 shooting, including drilling four treys. The lone senior cluttered the stat line, playing perhaps her best all-around game of the season thus far as she recorded a career-high eight steals, hauled in seven rebounds and dished out four assists.
Never allowing Wofford to come closer than 17 points, ASU cruised to the dominating 21-point victory.
The Mountaineers started the game on fire, jumping out to a commanding 19-5 lead, thanks in part to impressive play by Spartanburg, S.C. native Ashlen Dewart. The sophomore scored eight of ASU’s first 19 points. Dewart was also stellar in the game, tallying her second straight double-double, scoring 21 points, while grabbing 16 rebounds.
Not shy offensively either, Ramirez and Courtney Freeman were also able to ignite the Black and Gold on the offensive front, and ASU made the score 24-9 in their favor with a little under 12 minutes to go until the break.
Wofford tried to get something going, posting an 8-2 run, with points coming from April Moorhouse and Mahagony Williams, and the Terriers were able to pull within nine.
Nine points however would be the narrowest of margins, as the Mountaineer offense was unstoppable. Ramirez drilled two treys in the waning minutes of first period play and ASU took a 14-point cushion into the half.
Despite Wofford trying to rally to begin the second half, ASU picked up its pace and maintained its double-digit lead.
Freshman Michelle Taylor helped enable ASU keep up their strong play, as she scored a career-high nine points, all coming in the second half, while grabbing six rebounds as well, and the Black and Gold went on to the 81-60 win.
