Avery Basketball and Wrestling with Madison Postponed

The high school basketball games scheduled for Friday, Jan.7, at Madison between the Avery Vikings and the Madison Patriots have been postponed due to inclement weather.

The games will be made up on Saturday, Jan. 15, with junior varsity girls action beginning at 2 p.m. in Marshall.

The wrestling dual meet scheduled at Avery High School between Avery and Madison has also been postponed due to the weather. No makeup date has been scheduled for that event.

Carter Leads ASU To Road Win At Davidson

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 Wednesday night.

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.

ASU Football Notebook: Payton Ceremony Set for Thursday

DeAndre Presley finds out on Thursday evening if he is Appalachian State University’s third-straight Walter Payton Award recipient when the NCAA Division I FCS player-of-the-year award winner is announced during The Sports Network’s annual FCS Awards Banquet at the Dallas-Frisco Embassy Suites in Frisco, Texas.

Presley, a junior quarterback, is one of three signal-callers invited to the ceremony, joining seniors Matt Barr from Western Illinois and Jeremy Moses of Stephen F. Austin. Should Presley edge out Barr and Moses for the honor, it will extend Appalachian’s stranglehold on the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy to three-straight years. Presley’s predecessor as ASU’s quarterback, Armanti Edwards, became the first two-time recipient in the 23-year history of the Payton Award when he earned FCS’s highest honor in 2008 and 2009.

In his first season as a starter, Presley became only the fourth player in FCS history to pass for 2,000 yards (2,631 — 20th nationally) and rush for 1,000 yards (1,039 — 28th nationally and second among QBs) in a season. The Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year ranks second nationally with 35 touchdowns accounted for (21 passing, 13 rushing and one receiving) and fourth with 3,670 yards of total offense. Moses accounted for 3,930 yards of offense (3,998 passing, -68 rushing) and 34 touchdowns (all passing) and Barr accounted for 3,859 total yards (3,410 passing, 449 rushing) and 34 touchdowns (27 passing, 7 rushing).

FRYE NAMED FCS ACADEMIC ALL-STAR: ASU junior offensive lineman Orry Frye is one of 52 players that has been tabbed by the NCAA Division I FCS Athletic Directors Association as an FCS Academic All-Star, the organization announced Wednesday.

The 52-player FCS ADA Academic All-Star team was selected from a pool of 92 nominees by a six-member review committee of FCS athletics directors. To be eligible for consideration, a player must have a minimum grade point average of 3.2 and be a starter or key contributor on his team.

Frye carries a 3.46 GPA in computer information systems and is a member of the prestigious Alpha Iota Mu international CIS honor society. On the field, the 6-2, 270-pound junior started all 13 games at left tackle for the Mountaineers in 2010 and helped anchor an offensive front that surrendered only eight sacks in 13 games and paved the way to top-10 national rankings in scoring (seventh - 34.3 ppg), rushing (eighth - 217.4 ypg) and total offense (10th - 430.9 ypg).

KILGORE, SMITH INVITED TO NFL COMBINE: Offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore and linebacker D.J. Smith have received invitations to participate in the 2011 National Football League Scouting Combine, which will be held Feb. 23-March 1 in Indianapolis.

The NFL Combine is the annual job fair for prospective new NFL players. For six days at Lucas Oil Stadium, players are put through a series of drills, tests and interviews in front of more than 600 NFL personnel including head coaches, general managers and scouts.

A 6-3, 285-pounder that projects as a guard or center at the professional level, Kilgore anchored Appalachian’s prolific offensive front as the starting right tackle for all 13 games in 2010. In 11 regular-season games, Kilgore amassed 46 knockdowns and 20 pancake blocks while never grading below 81 percent, including two grades of 90 percent or higher (91 vs. Chattanooga and 90 vs. Elon).

A 6-1, 235-pound linebacker, Smith led the SoCon and ranked fifth nationally with 144 total tackles while also recording four-and-a-half tackles for loss, two sacks, five quarterback hurries, four pass break-ups, an interception and a fumble recovery as a senior. He finished his career with 525 tackles, the most among all Division I players (FCS or FBS) active in 2010. His 525 career stops rank fourth in SoCon history and he joined three-time NFL Pro Bowler Dexter Coakley as the only players in ASU history to surpass the 500-tackle plateau.

In addition to the NFL Combine, Kilgore will also represent ASU in the Texas vs. The Nation all-star game on Feb. 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Defensive back Mark LeGree will also have the opportunity to impress NFL scouts in an all-star game setting when he takes part in the inaugural Eastham Energy College Football All-Star Game on Jan. 23 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

LMC to host Take a Kid to the Game Saturday

The Lees-McRae College (LMC) athletic department will be hosting the NCAA's annual Take a Kid to the Game program on Saturday, Jan. 8, in Williams Gymnasium, announced athletic director Craig McPhail on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

LMC is scheduled to host Conference Carolinas' foe Mount Olive College in addition to the Take a Kid to the Game program, a program designed to allow kids to experience the game-day atmosphere of college basketball.

As part of the program, youth ages 17 and under will receive a free ticket to the contest with the purchase of a full-price adult admission ($3). The initiative provides free admission for any youth who arrives at the arena wearing their youth league basketball jersey. Additional student tickets can be purchased at $1 at the gate.

The women's contest is slated to tip off at 2 p.m., followed by the men's game at 4 p.m. There will be handouts provided to all youth who attend, and there will be a special contest taking place at halftime of each competition during the afternoon.

Come on out, support the Bobcats, and Take a Kid to the Game!

Viking Basketball Wins Four Over Polk

The Avery basketball teams pulled off a clean sweep of four straight wins on Tuesday night as the Polk County Wolverines visited the Viking Octagon for Western Highlands Conference hoops action.


JV Girls: Avery 45, Polk 42
Behind a game and career-high 29 points from Bre Heaton, the Lady Vikings held off a late charge by Polk County to win 45-42.

Avery trailed 13-10 after one quarter, but Heaton scored 10 of Avery's 13 points in the second quarter, while the Lady Viking defense held Polk to only two points in the second quarter, helping Avery to a 23-15 lead at halftime.

The Lady Vikings found offense hard to come by themselves in the third quarter, connecting for only four points in the frame to allow Polk to draw to within 27-23 after three quarters.

In the final quarter Avery made a run to start the quarter to open as large as an 11-point margin, as Heaton and guard Katie Rigdon combined to score 13 of Avery's 18 points in the final stanza. Polk didn't quit, however, drawing to within three points as time expired.

Heaton's 29 points were complemented by 7 from Rigdon and 3 points from Shannon Smith. Avery forced 19 steals in the game, but committed 25 turnovers themselves, helping to keep the game closer than perhaps it should have been.

JV Boys: Avery 61, Polk 55

Avery sophomore guard Lane Smith torched Polk County for 25 points as Avery picked up its second conference win of the season Tuesday night. Avery led 14-12 after one quarter as Smith and teammate Luke Wotell scored six points apiece in the frame. Chance Watson and Stetson Stafford combined for 9 points off the Viking bench as Avery and Polk were knotted at 27 at halftime.

Avery seized control of the game in the third quarter, holding the Wolverines to only eight points in the frame while doubling their total with 16 in the same span. Bryce Pittman scored five points in the frame as he and Watson each netted three-pointers during the quarter to help the Vikings to a 43-35 lead after three periods.

In the final stanza Avery maintained its lead at the free throw line. Smith scored nine of his 11 points in the quarter from the charity stripe, while Watson added three field goals to hold off a late Polk charge and earn the six-point win.

Watson scored 13 points as the only other Avery player in double-figures. Pittman and Wotell each scored eight for Avery in the win.

Varsity Girls: Avery 72, Polk 39
The Avery Lady Vikings showed little rust from not having played in almost a week by trouncing the Polk Lady Wolverines. The frontcourt duo of Megan Tennant (19) and Katelynn Eudy (17) combined for exactly half of Avery's points as the Lady Vikings won its 8th game of the season and remained unbeaten in conference play.

Avery jumped out to a 23-6 lead after one quarter, shooting 10 of 20 from the field in the quarter and forcing 14 Polk turnovers in the period. Polk scored six of the first 8 points in the second quarter to cut the margin to 25-12, but The Big Red ended the quarter with a 14-2 scoring run to put the game out of reach, leading 39-14 at halftime. Tennant tallied 17 of her 19 points in the first half, while senior Mercedes Bentley scored 7 points and Savannah Dellinger added 6 points in the half.

Avery liberally substituted throughout the second half and continued to maintain and even lengthen its lead to 56-26 after three quarters and the eventual 33-point win.

Tennant added five rebounds with her team-high 19 points, while Eudy scored 17 and added 8 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Dellinger scored 10 points to go with 7 assists, with 8 points and 4 assists from Kelsie Clarke in the win. Kailey Russell led Polk with 9 points, with 8 points from Brittany Phipps.

Varsity Boys: Avery 76, Polk 65
The nightcap between the Vikings and Wolverines was a back-and-forth affair for much of the night before Avery clinched the win in the final minutes from the free throw line. Dustin Clarke netted 28 points, nine of which came in the final three minutes of the contest from the charity stripe on 11 shots.

Avery led 21-19 after one quarter behind 7 points from Clarke and five from center Colton Blackburn. The Vikings seized control in the second period to take a 40-30 advantage at halftime, as Benji Stewart chipped in with a pair of field goals and Spencer Blackburn netted five points off the bench.

Avery maintained its working margin in the third quarter, as a 7-2 Viking run to open the second half inflated Avery's lead to as many as 15 at 47-32. Polk outscored Avery 17-10 for the remainder of the period, but Avery led by eight at 57-49 going into the final stanza.

Polk cut the Avery lead to as little as six points on three different occasions. A Benji Stewart three-pointer early in the quarter pushed Avery ahead by nine, and free throws from Clarke in the waning minutes staved off any hope for a Wolverine rally as the Vikings won its sixth game of the season and improved to 3-1 in Western Highlands Conference play.

Clarke added six rebounds and three assists in the win, with 9 points from Joey Potter, 8 points and 8 rebounds from Colton Blackburn, 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals from Timmy Stewart, and 6 points each from Kody Hughes and Alex Villanueva.

The Vikings travel to Marshall on Friday night to take on the Madison Patriots in another Western Highlands Conference clash.

Musings and Ramblings: The Latest Sports Trend…Rewarding Mediocrity

I was sitting back in my easy chair on Sunday night and witnessed one of the greatest punting exhibitions in recent National Football League (NFL) memory…a game at Qwest Field between the St. Louis Rams and the Seattle Seahawks to determine the champion of the National Football Conference’s (NFC) Western division.

The Rams had a 7-8 record entering the game, and the Seahawks’ record was 6-9, far from sterling marks by pro football standards. The teams played at their season standards, which were poor, and Seattle eventually won the game 16-6 to claim the division title with a final regular season record of 7-9 and earn the NFC’s No. 4 seed which enables them to host a playoff game this weekend against the defending Super Bowl champion and No. 5 seeded New Orleans Saints, who finished two games behind NFC South champion Atlanta and ended the season as a wild card with a final record of 11-5.

Now I was a decent math student in school, and I’m fairly certain that 11 is a higher number than seven, therefore it would make sense that the team with the higher win total would host a playoff game, right? Wrong.

In the world of the NFL, greatest emphasis is placed on a team winning its division when it comes to playoff seeding, even if that division winner lost more games than it won.

Using the current league playoff format mediocrity is rewarded, and the Saints, who even defeated the Seahawks head-to-head in the regular season, are the hard-luck losers in the mix.

The idea of rewarding teams with less-than-stellar records goes beyond the pro ranks. Leave it to the NCAA to foul up a potentially great idea, similarly to foregoing the excitement and windfall of a college football playoff for the Bowl Championship Series. College football has taken the idea of rewarding the mediocre to another level by playing a grand total of 35 bowl games this postseason.

Again, if my math serves me correctly, that means 70 teams are invited to bowl games this year. There are only 120 or so NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (former Division 1A) teams eligible for bowls to begin with, so almost 60 percent of those teams went bowling this postseason.

A total of 14 teams (20 percent of the teams in bowl games) either have played or are scheduled to play in bowl games and finished the regular season with six wins and six losses. It is even conceivable that a team that finishes under .500 could have played in bowl games this season.

A pair of .500 schools (BYU and UTEP)
played in this year's New Mexico Bowl.

 

 

.

Perhaps the best example of this celebration of average was this year’s New Mexico Bowl which pitted 6-6 Brigham Young University against 6-6 University of Texas-El Paso. Sure, the records make it appear that the game might be competitive (which it wasn’t…BYU won 52-24), but what message is being sent by the NCAA when it gives a team that couldn’t win more games than it lost the privilege of playing a postseason bowl game?

It’s easy to complain about a broken system, but I have some solutions as well. Here’s my two cents worth:

First, to fix the college bowl issue why not use a football playoff system with no greater than 16 teams. Since this doesn’t appear conceivable in the near future, rather than rewarding mediocrity, why not eliminate a few bowl games and raise the standard? To qualify for a bowl game, a team must win a higher minimum number of games. Eight is a good round number of wins, with at least seven coming against fellow FBS opponents and include a cap on the maximum number of games a team plays in a season at 13 games.

In the event that there are not enough teams that qualify for the bowl games, throw in a provision that would allow for less than eight wins to qualify if that team wins a set percentage (60 percent is a good benchmark) of its FBS games with a minimum number of 10 games played. That way, teams finishing a regular season at 6-4 or 7-3 would qualify for postseason, while a 7-5 team would fall short.

In the NFL playoff format, use head-to-head record and whether a team is a division champion as factors in breaking ties. However, if a wild card team has a better record than a division champion (such as the New Orleans/Seattle quandary), the team with the better season record should host the playoff game. It works in Major League Baseball, where seeding is based on overall record and a wild card team with a better overall record has home field advantage over a division champion.

This year’s watered down NFC West should open the league’s eyes to the notion that total wins is more important than the best out of four teams in a division. Let’s reward excellence more. It would lead to better quality of competition and more exciting games, which is a win-win for everyone.

Lady Vikings Suffers OT Loss, Blasts Bulldogs at Holiday Tournament

The Avery Lady Vikings (AHS) captured third place at the Wildcat Holiday Invitational Tournament, held last week at Draughn High School in Valdese.

Last Tuesday, Dec. 28, the Big Red faced its toughest 1A foe to date in the Highland Tech Lady Rams, ranked No. 4 in the latest MaxPreps 1A girls basketball poll.

The Lady Vikings, ranked 10th in the same poll, led for much of the contest, but foul trouble and missed free throws proved the difference in a tight affair, as Highland Tech won 64-59 in overtime.

Mercedes Bentley paced AHS with eight of the 10 Viking points in the first quarter of action, guiding the Big Red to a 10-8 lead after eight minutes.

AHS managed to keep its narrow margin through the second stanza. Seniors Katelynn Eudy and Mary Chesnut Smith combined for six points in the period, while Bentley netted her third three-point basket of the half to help the Lady Vikings take the 23-20 lead at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, the Lady Vikings exploded for its highest offensive quarter of the game by tallying 19 points. The Lady Rams continued to give AHS fits, however, with an 18-point period of its own to stay within striking distance at 42-38 after three quarters.

Late in the final stanza, the Lady Vikings were saddled with foul issues, as both Eudy and Megan Tennant were dominant in the post, but eventually were both disqualified from the game with five personal fouls.

The Lady Rams utilized the strategy of forcing AHS to hit free throws to seal the win. Unfortunately the Big Red could not put the game on ice, converting only 2-of-9 free throws, opening the door for Highland Tech to claw back even with the Lady Vikings by the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime tied at 53-53.

In the extra session, Smith scored four points for AHS, while Lauren Burleson scored a field goal to account for the only Lady Viking points in overtime. Meanwhile, the Lady Rams made a single field goal in overtime but did its damage at the charity stripe, going 9-for-15 from the foul line to pull away late for the win.

The loss snapped a five-game AHS win streak, while the Lady Rams remained unbeaten for the season.

Bentley led all scorers with 22 points with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Burleson registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Eudy hauled in nine rebounds to go with 11 points, with eight rebounds from Megan Tennant.

“Highland Tech is a good scrappy team. They had a really good post player who kept taking us to the basket. We led them the whole game, but couldn’t hit our free throws at the end,” Avery head coach Missy Lyons said after the game. “We were in deep foul trouble most of the game, and Katelynn and Megan both fouled out before overtime, so we were a bit shorthanded at the post for the overtime period. The foul totals were really lopsided, and there were even some fouls called on the wrong players, which was a little frustrating, but to come down to it we should have hit our free throws and didn’t do it.”

The following afternoon AHS tangled with the Bulldogs from Burns High School in the third-place contest. As in its previous contest, the Lady Vikings got off to a slow start against an overmatched Lady Bulldogs club, trailing 10-8 after one period.

In the second quarter Avery regrouped to take a five-point margin at 29-24 at halftime. Avery used its height advantage along its front line to take control of the contest. Tennant tallied 11 first-half points, with five points apiece off the bench from forward Burleson and guard Monica Estep during the half.

The Big Red exploded in the third quarter for a 20-8 scoring spurt, as Burns had no answer for the AHS press defense that generated numerous turnovers and offensive opportunities, building a comfortable 49-32 margin entering the final period.

Over the final eight minutes, AHS stretched its margin and put the game out of reach. Kelsie Clarke scored 12 points in the final frame as the Big Red captured a 71-35 win.

Tennant, the Lady Viking representative on the All-Tournament team, racked up a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, in addition to three steals during the win. Clarke tallied 15 points with four assists, while Bentley added 13 points. Burleson and Eudy tallied seven points apiece.

“We started out a little sluggish and should have been able to press better from the beginning, but this was a good springboard to get us back into practice and ready to get back into conference play,” Lyons said after the win.

The holiday tournament is a good measuring stick for the Lady Vikings, who have won six of its last seven games. The holiday period is a chance for the team to assess its progress thus far during the season and prepare for the meat of the conference season.

“This tournament is good in that it gives us a chance to try some different things and play some different teams. Highland Tech is a team that we could see in the state playoffs as we did a couple of years ago, so it is good competition and a good tournament to play in,” Lyons said. “I hope this has helped prepare us. I hope that once we get back into a routine and practice schedule that we can be successful against the teams we’ll play in conference.”

Conference play resumes in earnest this week for the AHS varsity and JV clubs with contests against Polk County and at Madison.