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).
Appalachian 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 Mountaineers 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 three-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.
The Mountaineers host Georgia Southern in the Holmes Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8 in the squad’s Southern Conference home opener.
