Mountaineers outclaw Wildcats for third conference victory

Chris Boyce Varsity Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University men's basketball team seems to finally be coming around, after two consecutive Southern Conference (SoCon) victories, most recently a 78-68 road win against the Davidson Wildcats.

Five players reached double figures for the Mountaineers, including guard Noah Brown who opened the game with five points and finished with 16 points.

The win puts the Mountaineers (6-14, 3-4 in SoCon) in sole possession of third place in the SoCon's North Division.

With Appalachian State leading 28-26 at halftime, Davidson (8-12, 2-5 in SoCon) fought back, tying the score at 36-36 on two free throws by Wildcat center Martin Ides.

The Mountaineers answered with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Jonathan Butler three-pointer, giving ASU the 43-36 edge.

Davidson battled back, bringing the score to a one-point contest, 49-48, but once again was unable to get closer.

Noah Brown's three-point basket from the top of the key with 6:16 left gave Appalachian State a six-point lead, 57-51, and after a Wildcat basket by Chris Pearson, the Mountaineers went on an 8-0 run for their biggest lead of the game, 65-53.

The Wildcats' last threat came with Davidson still trailing by 12 points and only 1:15 remaining in the game.

Davidson's Jason Dickens buried a three-pointer and then after a Mountaineer turnover the Wildcats added another three-pointer by Davidson's Wayne Bernard.

The six-point deficit with 53 seconds to go was as close as Davidson would get.

Leading Appalachian State was sophomore center Josh Shehan with 17 points, Butler who scored 14 points plus a team-high seven rebounds, and Matt Jones and Donald Payne who both chipped in with ten points respectively.

Shehan's 17 points came off 8-of-11 shooting, further strengthening his SoCon leading field-goal percentage.

Leading Davidson was Bernard with 25 points, Dickens with 16 points and Pearson with 11 points.

The Mountaineers will battle East Tennessee State University, Saturday at the Holmes Convocation Center at 1:00 p.m.

In their last meeting, the Bucs defeated the Mountaineers 61-56.

Double-digit scoring leads to Mountaineer victory over Catamounts

Ty Brueilly Sports Beat

Tuesday night at the Holmes Convocation Center was a bit of a break from the norm for the Appalachian State University women's basketball team this season, and in the best possible way, avoiding an eighth conference loss and adding the second conference victory of the year, defeating the Western Carolina Catamounts, 79-72.

This break started by a pre-game ceremony that commemorated Senior center Natasha Lettsome's 1,000 point career, thus far. The ceremony included Appalachian head coach Barbie Breedlove standing at half court with the game ball in her hands while Lettsome jogged over to give her coach a hug and accept the ball. After Tuesday night's victory Lettsome stands with 1,097 career points.

The game started out slow at both ends of the court, and halfway through the first period, Western only had scored 16, while Appalachian netted only ten. The game was quickly jump started when Laura Edwards dribbled the ball to the right side of the court, picked up her dribble, looked inside to find no open post players, and decided to pull up and nail a three point shot.

After a Western lay-up, freshman point guard Rebecca Norris sprinted ahead of the rest of the players, found herself alone, then waited for a cutting Jamie Gagliano to toss the ball to for a contested lay up. Gagliano made the lay-up and received a foul, and connected at the free throw line for a three point play, pushing the score closer 18-16, still in favor of Western.

Western tried to answer Appalachian's three point play with a three point shot, but missed into the hands of sophomore guard Tiffany Johnson (T.J.) who drove into the lane for a nice up and under lay-up, tying the game at 18 each.

The rest of the first half resulted in both teams trading baskets, and went into halftime with a 33-35 score favoring Western. Appalachian's record this season when trailing at the half was 0-12.

After the half, with a Lettsome jump shot and a long Lauren Romano three pointer, Appalachian took the lead, 38-37. After these five points, Johnson emerged as an offensive threat. Thrashing to the basket numerous times, she took the rest of the team on her shoulders.

Halfway through the second period, Johnson had the game's highlight play when she dribbled, drove into the lane, swung the ball up and around her defender, and went up for a lay-up off the glass.

Seconds after that, Johnson stole the ball from a Western guard around their three point line, and kept ahead of the Cats long enough to get another two points, upping Appalachian's lead 49-40. After Jaymi Wilson followed Johnson's play with a jumper of her own, Western called a time-out to try to slow down Johnson. Johnson said, "I was just ready to win, something was just inside me that drove me to score."

Lettsome who had limited play time due to foul trouble, came up with a big play after Western's time out, with a turn around jumper, upping the lead to eleven. Shortly after that shot, Lettsome gained her fourth foul and was forced to leave the game.

Wilson then emerged with two straight three point shots late in the second half, almost sealing an Appalachian victory, but a late burst of energy and Appalachian foul trouble enabled Western to come close. With clutch free throws by Romano, Appalachian sent the Catamounts back to Cullowhee with a 2-7 record.

At one time Appalachian had four players on the court with four fouls, with Lettsome and Gagliano eventually fouling out, but remained strong for the 79-72 victory. Breedlove said about the teams victory, "The best thing about this win is that, even with the two main players on the bench, they still found a way to win... it's good to beat Western because they look at their schedule and we are the biggest game on there, they look forward to play us in hopes of a victory."

Appalachian ended the game with an amazing five players with double digit scoring. Johnson led with 18, Lettsome had 14, and Romano, Wilson and Gagliano all had 13. Gagliano added 15 rebounds for her fifth double double of the season.

Appalachian will travel to Chattanooga next in hopes for their second victory in a row.

The Black Death wraps up season

James Nix Clubs and Intramural Sports

In the early fall of 2000, the Appalachian State University club football team, the Black Death, was predicted to finish dead last in the conference.

By November, they were the state champions with an overall record of 5-2-1.

"That's not too bad for a team that is student-coached and conditioned," said head coach and senior Preston Powell.

Powell not only coached the club but played for the team as well. He and two other seniors, Torris Patrick and Harold Williams, headed up the defense this year.

All three are former members of the varsity football team. Together, they led a defense that only allowed an average 8.7 points a game. Patrick even took on the responsibilty of coaching the defense as well.

"I've always wanted to coach and when Preston asked me to play, I knew it would be a great opportunity to coach too," said Patrick.

The impressive defense was not all senior brute, however.

Freshman Casey Willett, who played defensive end, ended the year in double digits in sacks. Sophomore Adam Gillespie also played a major role.

It takes more than great defense to win football games, and the Black Death offense proved this. All-Conference tight end Pete Saunders, finished the season with 25 receptions and 210 yards. Wide-out Cody Audrey finished the season with 38 receptions and 400 yards. Wide-out Wiley Brown also had an All-Conference season.

To start the season off, the team lost to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), 12-6. This was followed by a 12-12 tie at Methodist College.

"The Methodist game was war," said Jason Walker, club president. "The temperature at kickoff was a humid 95 degrees. We were used to Boone temperatures."

The team then celebrated its first victory over Averett College, 35-0. Next came a win over Duke University 18-6 at home. UNC then forfeited to give the Black Death another win.

The last game of the season ended in a loss to Duke due to several injuries to key players.

Overall the team was ranked second in the conference but was seeded last in the playoffs.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Black Death reinvented their offense to defeat the Blue Devils 35-0. Defensive-back Thomas Jacques had three interceptions and was named defensive player of the game. The Black Death defense held the Blue Devils to 13 total yards of offense for the entire game.

"We added a West-Coast offense in the playoffs," said Powell. "We created more looks for our receivers and gave a new dimension to our running game."

After a bye in the second round, ASU traveled to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels in the North Carolina Association of Club Football Championship game.

The temperature only reached 35 degrees during the game and snow and sleet made the artificial turf very slippery. Defense was the key in the game, for they scored the only touchdown for ASU. In the final game of his career, Patrick had a total of 18 tackles while taking control of the Black Death defense.

At the end of regulation game play, the score was tied at 6-6, sending the game into overtime. UNC won the coin toss and played defense first. After three unsuccessful running plays, Walker kicked a 25-yard field goal to put ASU up 9-6. UNC succumbed once again to the Black Death defense, sealing the championship for Appalachian.

"We were doubted all season long," said Powell. "But what was important was that the team believed in themselves. I'm sure that this season is something that none of us will ever forget. I hope that guys will see this success and join the team next year to help us defend our title."

Wiley Brown, team captain, also urged new men to join.

"We've got a lot of seniors graduating in several key positions," said Brown. "So I'd like to see new guys come out next fall and help us out."

If anyone is interested in playing club football or supporting the team next year, contact Powell at 266-5540.