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Peter Larkins | Chief Photographer
ASU freshman center Jeremy Clayton (2) steals the ball from UNCG's leading scorer Ronnie Burrell during Saturday's game. |
Men's basketball falls to UNCG, 84-77
by Hugh Kellenberger
Associate Editor
The odds were stacked against University of North Carolina at Greensboro Saturday at Holmes Convocation Center.
Coach Fran Frascilla pulled all five starters within the first five minutes of regulation after ASU jumped out to lead by as much as 10.
Leading scorer Ronnie Burrell did not score for almost 30 minutes and made only one field goal for the game.
The team failed to score in the last 4:38 of the second half.
However, the Spartans proved to be the better team where it perhaps matters most, and pulled out an 84-77 victory.
They held on to a 7-point lead in the final 4:38 by making 11 of 12 free throws. ASU hit only 6 of 13 free throws in the entire second half.
For the game, UNCG hit 81.5 percent from the charity stripe, while ASU connected on only 55 percent.
“Trying to protect a short lead, you have to make your free throws,” Frascilla said.
With Burrell’s disappearance on the offensive end, super freshman Kyle Hines and sixth-man Ray Bristow picked up the slack. Hines led all scorers with 23 and Bristow chipped in a solid 20. Bristow also kept the team in the game during the first half, scoring seven of their first 17.
Burrell and Bristow were both perfect from the line, a combined 14 of 14.
Appalachian head coach Houston Fancher said after the game that the key coming in was to out rebound the Spartans. ASU did do that, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds and 41 overall.
With Chris McFarland and Noah Brown, ASU’s leading scorers, curiously on the bench during the final minutes, the offensive burden fell on Derek Thomas. He put the team on his massive shoulders, driving the lane again and again to put in his 18 points.
With 1:28 left and ASU down by three, Thomas put in a lay-up while being whistled for a questionable offensive foul.
Instead of closing the lead to one, Thomas watched as Bristow hit two free throws a few seconds later. ASU never got the momentum back.
McFarland, in 19 minutes, scored 12 points, albeit only connecting on 40 percent of his shots. Brown uncharacteristically took only three shots.
“I really couldn’t tell you [why he and Brown sat],” McFarland said. “The young guys, they were doing pretty good. I can’t fault their effort.”
The Mountaineer bench was the driving force after the first few minutes of the game.
Corwin Davis, Nathan Cranford, Demetrius Scott and Douglass McLaughlin-Williams all played in the final crucial moments.
“The people that are being productive and playing with heart, playing with effort and being efficient for us are the ones are going to be on the floor,” Fancher said.
Fancher also said that if the team can find consistency in a rotation of starters, they will stick with that group.
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Peter Larkins | Chief Photographer
ASU senior guard Michelle Conklin ices her knee during the second half of Saturday's game against Furman University. The women's basketball team was also short their MVP Jessica Jank, who is out with a separated shoulder. |
Paladins cruise past ASU women's basketball, 63-47
by Brad Norman
Associate Editor
The Appalachian State women’s basketball team has been successful this year by creating pressure off a full-court press and using its athleticism to its advantage.
Saturday, they saw what it was like to be on the other end.
Furman University (11-3, 6-1) stifled ASU’s offense and forced 31 turnovers in an easy 63-47 Paladin victory.
It was Appalachian’s fourth consecutive loss after starting the season 6-3. The defeat left head coach Adrienne Shuler so frustrated that she was unavailable to the media after the game.
“I was very disappointed in our effort,” Shuler said Monday morning. “Coming in, we knew a big part of Furman’s game was a full-court press ... I thought we did a poor job of handling pressure defense.”
Appalachian took an early lead in the first half but quickly succumbed to the scrambling Paladin defense.
“I don’t know if [the big lead] was because of how effective [the press] was or how ineffective we were,” Shuler said. “We never settled in throughout the night.”
Furman turned an 11-11 tie early in the first half into a 27-11 advantage. During that stretch, Furman limited ASU to only a Kiki Conyers field goal in 18 straight possessions.
The Paladins took a 35-16 half-time lead and never let the Mountaineers come closer than 15 points.
“The press was extremely effective in the first half,” Furman head coach Sam Dixon said. “I’m not sure it was nearly as effective in the second half, but it did prove to be a good thing for us defensively.”
Furman held Appalachian to 35 percent shooting for the game. Conyers led the Mountaineers with 15 points and sophomore forward Danielle Edwards added 10.
Jessica Lange and Princess Wells both contributed 12 points to lead the Paladins in scoring.
During Appalachian’s current four-game losing streak, the team has set a new low for points scored this season the last three losses.
Appalachian scored 61 points in a loss at High Point, 54 points in a loss at Davidson and 47 points against Furman.
Appalachian is 1-4 since losing senior forward Jessica Jank to a separated shoulder during the Dec. 16 victory against Campbell.
Jank missed the last three weeks with the injury. Shuler said her rehabilitation starts soon and she hopes Jank will be available in the next three weeks.
“We voted her our MVP last year and us losing [without her] proves how important she is,” Shuler said. “We definitely miss her. “
Shuler said she didn’t know if missing Jank was the sole reason the team has played poorly, but said it definitely “has something to do with it.”
“We’re not the same team [without Jank],” Shuler said. “She’s going to be out another week or two so we have to find a way to win without her.”
Shuler said the losing streak has had a negative effect on the team’s overall confidence.
“When you start dropping games you’re supposed to win, or you’re losing close games, that effects your confidence,” Shuler said. “But we have enough veteran players on our team to overcome that.”
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