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Peter Larkins | Chief Photographer
ASU head coach Jerry Moore directs his team in a practice last season. |
Sports in Brief: Football signs nine for fall
by Chris Zaluski
Staff Writer
The Appalachian State football team signed nine student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to attend the university next fall.
Head coach Jerry Moore feels that the recruiting process was successful.
“We are pleased with the group that we signed today,” Moore said in a press release. “We were able to recruit young men who will not only help address some of our immediate needs on the football field, but are the kind of young men that we are proud to have as part of our program and the university.”
The recruiting class consists of running back T.J. Courman (Beaufort, N.C.), defensive tackle Daniel Finnerty (Lawrenceville, N.C.), wide receiver Reynaldo Hunter (Duncan, S.C.), defensive back Leonard Love (Charlotte, N.C.), linebacker Jacque Roman (Kingland, Ga.), defensive end Gary Tharrington (Middlesex, N.C.), defensive back Chad Tuff (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), wide receiver Tavaris Washington (Laurinburg, N.C.) and wide receiver Dominique Wilson (Crescent, Ga.).
Wrestling
ASU’s wrestling team split its matches Saturday in a doubleheader at home.
In the first match, the Mountaineers fell to Southern Conference rival University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs, 28-12. In the second match, ASU beat non-conference foe Anderson College, 27-15.
Appalachian sophomore Terreyl Williams had a 2-0 record during the day as he won matches against both teams.
Against the Mocs, Appalachian’s Neal Martin won his first SoCon match of the season and improved his overall record to 5-9.
The Mountaineers now stand at 6-9 overall and 1-3 in SoCon action. They will host The Citadel Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Softball
The Appalachian State softball team participated in the Clearwater Invitational last weekend.
In the first day of the tournament, ASU fell to two of the top ranked teams in the nation.
Appalachian lost to the University of Florida Gators, 11-2.
In the next game, Appalachian fell to the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners, 6-2.
Against the Sooners, Appalachian was leading the game until the bottom of the sixth inning when a homerun and a pair of ASU errors gave Oklahoma the lead.
On Saturday afternoon, the Mountaineers split the two games they played.
In the first contest they lost to the University of Louisville, 9-0, but rebounded nicely to beat Florida Atlantic University later on in the day.
In the 3-2 victory over FAU, sophomore Keri Blackwelder pitched a complete game and also hit the game-winning RBI.
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Trey Allman | The Appalachian
Noah Brown contributed three three-pointers during the mountaineer's 84-66 win over the citadel. |
Men's basketball's second-half steamrolls El Cid, 84-66
by Chris Zaluski
Staff Writer
The Appalachian State men’s basketball team showed off their offensive power Thursday in an 84-66 win over The Citadel Bulldogs.
The Mountaineers scored 40 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half to seal the victory.
Senior forward Clint Deas was a driving force for ASU as he scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. These double-double figures far surpass his season average of 1.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Also helping Appalachian was a lethal long-range attack, which managed to account for 42 of the team’s 84 points.
Contributing to the three-pointer frenzy was leading scorer D.J. Thompson, who drained six, Nathan Cranford, who made four and Noah Brown with three.
Appalachian head coach Houston Fancher said the Bulldogs’ zone defense was the reason for ASU’s 42 attempts from beyond the arc.
Fancher also said he hopes more teams try the zone against the Mountaineers, due to the team’s three-point ability.
“We’re pretty good three-point shooters for the most part,” Fancher said. “I don’t mind [my players] stepping up and shooting them.”
In the first half, the Mountaineers’ shots weren’t falling against The Citadel’s zone defense. The dry spell allowed the Bulldogs to gain an early first half lead of seven points.
The strong inside play of Deas and Jeremy Clayton kept Appalachian within striking distance when Appalachian began to mount a first-half comeback.
Once shots began to fall for the Mountaineers, the team took the lead and never looked back.
“I was really happy with the level of poise and maturity that we showed when things weren’t going our way,” Fancher said regarding their first-half play.
Coming out of the locker room, the Mountaineers gained all the momentum they needed. During the first seven minutes of the second-half, Appalachian went on a 22-7 run.
ASU turned the second half into a fast-paced scoring frenzy and left the Bulldogs in the dust.
The Citadel junior guard Kevin Hammack believed that the fast tempo led to numerous mistakes for the Bulldogs.
“We lost our defensive intensity in the second half,” Hammack said. “We lost our man in transition, we didn’t box out at all and crucial turnovers touched off their fast breaks.”
The Citadel had trouble containing the Mountaineers down low on both ends of the court during the game due to the loss of freshman forward Warren McLendon.
McLendon, who averaged 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, was serving a one game suspension for an incident in a previous game.
The Bulldog’s head coach Pat Dennis said McLendon’s absence was a major part in the loss. Without an inside force, the Mountaineers were able to get 21 offensive and 23 defensive rebounds in the game.
ASU’s Corwin Davis and Derek Thomas each played two minutes in the game. Both players came off of a three-game suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.
The victory gave Appalachian some much needed momentum as they head into a week where they will face three Southern Conference Northern Division rivals.
Fancher stressed how important conference match-ups are this late in the season, and said he believes that his team is ready.
“I like our momentum right now; I like the direction we’re going right now and I like the confidence our kids are playing with,” Fancher said.
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