Mountaineers leave Catamounts with no reasons to purr

Chris Boyce - Varsity Sports

The Appalachian State University men's basketball team enjoyed one of their most impressive victories to date Saturday afternoon in frigid Boone, defeating the Western Carolina University Catamounts 87-75 in Southern Conference (SoCon) action.

The Mountaineers outhustled and outplayed their opponents throughout the contest, outrebounding the Catamounts 46 to 27 and making it to the free- throw line an astonishing 44 times.

In addition, the Mountaineers avoided a second-half collapse that has helped characterize their tough season.

Appalachian forward Josh Shehan complimented his conference-leading 63.1 field-goal percentage with a nine for 13 shooting performance, scoring 23 points and adding 10 rebounds for the double-double.

The Mountaineers were also led by forward Donald Payne's 17 points and 13 rebounds and freshman Noah Brown's 18 points.

The hapless Catamounts were led by forward Cory Largent's team-high 16 points and guard Casey Rogers' 15 points in the losing effort.

Appalachian State's aggressive play was never more evident than at the start of the contest in which the Mountaineers jumped out on the Catamounts with a 22-8 lead.

Then, with the score 27-11 in favor of the Mountaineers, point guard Jonathan Butler lobbed a pass to a cutting Michael Patten who dunked the ball for a perfect alley-oop.

The play sent the 1,742 fans in attendance to their feet and was the highlight to one of Appalachian's best halves of the season. When the first half had expired, the Mountaineers led 39-25 and had been to the line 15 times, knocking down 73 percent of their free-throw attempts.

In the second half, the Catamounts cut the deficit to nine points with 11:20 to play in the game after a jumper by Western Carolina's Kori Hatcher made the score 54-45.

With memories still fresh about last Saturday's College of Charleston debacle, the Mountaineers put a decisive dent in any hope of a Catamount comeback, boosting the lead back up to 12 thanks to Josh Shehan.

After a layup by Western Carolina's shot-blocking sensation, Rans Brempong, Shehan took the ball straight to the hoop and drew the foul.

Shehan converted both attempts, and then on the Mountaineers' next possession he took a pass from Josh Hare and scored on a lay-up.

The four-point burst gave Appalachian a 60-48 lead and Shehan's basket with eight minutes remaining restored Appalachian's lead to 14, 62-48.

The Catamounts never threatened again and were forced to foul at the end of the game, giving the Mountaineers even more free-throw attempts.

When the final buzzer sounded, Appalachian State had won 87-75 and had moved into a three-way tie for third place in the Southern Conference's north division.

A big factor in the Appalachian State win was the Mountaineers' cutback in turnovers from their last several games.

To achieve this, Coach Houston Fancher made his players carry basketballs to all of their classes on Friday.

Said guard Noah Brown, "That's the reason why we've been losing so many games, is that we were turning the ball over so much. Yesterday Coach made all of us grab a ball and take it to class ... It was just a psychological thing to let us know that the ball is our friend."

After the game both Fancher and Shehan agreed that the Mountaineers' aggressiveness in the first half was key to the victory.

"We were the more aggressive team in the first half and that was huge for us," said Fancher. "We didn't allow those second shots and I thought we guarded them well. We kept getting second looks at the basket which I thought was big for us."

Said Shehan, "We were taking the ball to the basket aggressively and that's what comes out of it."

Fancher also praised his team's ability to get to the free-throw line.

"I think in the first half, being able to get to the free-throw line 15 times was critical for us. Why have we struggled scoring in the past? I think because of our inability to get to the free-throw line," said Fancher.

Up next for the Mountaineers is a road game against Davidson College on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The Mountaineers will be home this Saturday for a game against East Tennessee State University at 1 p.m.

Passing, patience and Shehan keys to victory over Catamounts

Ty Brueilly - Sports Beat

Appalachian State University neighborly rival Western Carolina University strolled into Boone on Saturday hoping for its first men's basketball win in 10 outings. Appalachian had a similar hope, which was to snap a four-game losing streak.

Mountaineer head coach Houston Fancher said after an Appalachian 87-75 victory, "We talked about streaks, and one of the guys came up to me and said, 'That's one in a row, before we can be 2-0 we've got to win one.' "

Appalachian State and Western Carolina both came into the game with a very young lineup, from the head coaching position to each team's center. Both Fancher and Western Carolina coach Steve Shurina are first-year head coaches.

Both teams also came out with two freshmen in their starting lineups, Appalachian with guard Noah Brown and shooting guard Matt Jones, and Western Carolina with shooting guard Kori Hatcher and center shot-blocker Rans Brempong.

Patience, passing and standout play by emerging leader and sophomore center Josh Shehan led to the Mountaineer victory.

Appalachian's Donald Payne gained control of the game's first possession and the team passed the ball to perfection. Each of the five Appalachian starters touched the ball and used the shot clock until it read three seconds before junior point guard Jonathan Butler found Shehan, posting up for a quick turnaround lay-up.

Fancher said, "Out of our assists, a majority of them came in transition and they came against their zone. When you can get that many assists in a zone you are handling the ball pretty well.

"I think the inside people handled the ball well."

Appalachian's use of passing and using most of the shot clock continued for the rest of the game, from the Mountaineer guards to the big men in the middle.

Seven of Appalachian's 10 players tallied at least one assist, for a team effort of 20 assists.

Butler led with seven assists. Fancher said, "One through 10 today had a very good team effort. I wanted to be able to, after the game, look into each of the player's eyes and see how much the game meant to them. ... We had contributions all the way up and down the floor."

Another play halfway through the first half proved Appalachian's perfection of their passing game. Butler ran the ball down to what looked like an open Brown. He in turn threw a no-look pass to an even more wide-open Payne who kissed the ball off the glass for a quick two points. Payne immediately looked up and smiled at both Butler and Brown, congratulating them for such great passing.

Turnovers, which have been Appalachian's strong point for the past few games, showed hardly any significance in this game, with only seven in the first half and 16 for the game--compared to the 20 plus that the team has had recently.

The determining factor could have been something that Fancher's niece recommended he require his players to do. She suggested that each member of the basketball team walk around campus and go to class carrying a basketball and not let it out of their hands.

"It gave them a chance to think about them (turnovers) and why they were carrying the ball, and I told them if anybody asks you about the ball, they needed to say that you can come see the ball on Saturday," Fauncher said.

In the second half, the Catamounts looked to make a comeback from a 25-39 halftime score, with short spurts of points. But three close crucial plays by Brown, Shehan and Payne eventually buried the Cats, with no hope of coming back.

Payne tossed the ball to Brown, then passing it to a posting-up Shehan, who then passed back to a cutting Payne for two more of his 17 points.

Another one of these plays came from four feet behind the three-point line, where Brown sunk the shot.

The last play that put the Catamounts to sleep came with 38 seconds left in the game and began with a full court pass from Butler that landed into a running Shehan's palms, just in time for him to turn around and throw it down with some power. Shehan then looked up to the scoreboard and knew that it was time for some celebration.

After the victory and his stand-out performance, Shehan said, "We have a great team and great coaching ... I still think we have a shot at winning the division -- it's a close race."

Appalachian ended the game with four players with double-digit scoring: Butler with 10, Brown with 18, while Payne and Shehan notched double-doubles. Payne had 17 points and 13 rebounds, along with Shehan's career high 23 points and 10 rebounds. Appalachian next travels to meet yet another rival, Davidson College, tonight at 7:30 p.m.