March 7, 2000

 

Dancin' Days are Here Again

Anthony Holderied  Varsity Sports Beat

 

After having their dream stolen for two straight years, Tyson Patterson and the Appalachian State Mountaineers made it all come true by beating the defending champion College of Charleston 68-56 in the Southern Conference Tournament Championship Sunday in Greenville, S.C.  Patterson, the Southern Conference Player of the Year and tournament Most Outstanding Player, carried the Mountaineers to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1979 by scoring 14 of his 22 points in the second half.  “Last year, it was like a dream snatched away right in front of me. As a little kid, you dream about going to the NCAA Tournament. These last two seasons, I’ve been saying we’ll get it next year, today there was no next year,” said Patterson.  The Mountaineers, who trailed 29-28 at halftime, used a 17-2 second half run to knock off the number one seeded and defending champ Cougars. In last year’s final, Charleston used a second half run of their own to overcome an 11-point Mountaineer lead and advance to the NCAA’s.  “We’re so excited about going to the NCAA Tournament.  This has been a goal of ours, and to come up short the last two years, and get it now, we’re completely pleased and satisfied. The bottom line is that we were not going to be denied,” said Appalachian head coach Buzz Peterson, who will make his first trip to the big dance as a coach.  The Mountaineers shot just 43 percent from the field, but played impeccable defense all afternoon, allowing Charleston just 27 points in the second half on nine of 29 shooting.  Both teams traded second half baskets and Charleston tied the game at 43 with eight minutes left. But Rufus Leach’s first three-point basket of the game at the 7:28 mark put Appalachian up for good. Leach was just one of nine from downtown, but managed to score 16 points on just six of 17 shooting from the field.  “I was missing a lot of shots, but on the bench, the coaches kept telling me to keep my composure. I just fell back on my defense, by playing hard and doing the little things like going after loose balls, and that’s what propelled us through the game,” said Leach, who sealed the game with a steal from Jody Lumpkin with under two minutes to play.  Lumpkin lead the Cougars in scoring and rebounding, with 16 points and eight boards, guards Jeff Bolton and James Griffin added 11 apiece for Charleston.  Cedrick Holmes added five points and 10 rebounds and also had a block and two steals.  Shawn Alexander scored 11 and grabbed seven rebounds.  Appalachian met Chattanooga in the second round after receiving the first round bye. The Mountaineers dispatched the Mocs, who had played ASU close in the last four meetings, 88-66.  After trailing 8-3 out of the gate, the Mountaineers used a 22-8 run midway through the first half to take a commanding 42-29 halftime lead. Appalachian then used a 12-3 run to start the second half to provide the early exit for the Mocs.  “It’s hard to stay intense with such a big lead. You get up by 15 points or so and you start to relax or get in that comfort zone.  We didn’t slack off, and kept doing the little things we needed to do to put them away,” said Patterson.  The Mountaineers fired a red-hot 60 percent shooting performance for the game while connecting on 72 percent of their free throw attempts. Patterson and Shawn Alexander led ASU with 19 points apiece. Leach added 18, including three steals.  Before meeting Charleston in the championship, Appalachian ran into the hottest team in the Southern Conference in the second round, Furman, who had won four straight conference games heading into the tournament.  In what may have been the most exciting game of the tournament, the underrated Paladins, who had already buried UNC Greensboro and Georgia Southern, led the Mountaineers by six with just four minutes to play before succumbing to the heroics of the tournament MVP, who scored a game-high 28 points.  Patterson hit a vital three-point basket with 3:32 left before Furman used the energy of the hometown BI-LO Center crowd to go back up on top by six.  Patterson however, scored 12 of Appalachian’s final 14 points and Alexander drilled two free throws in the closing seconds, to help the Mountaineers escape the hot Paladins, 60-56.  “When I was going up to the line, Tyson came over to me and said that I needed to make them for him, so I stepped up and nailed them,” said Alexander who scored eight points and ripped down 10 boards.  “What we did, I really can’t tell you, we just wanted to get the ball in the hands of Tyson and let him drive it.  It takes a special kind of person and a special kind of player to make big plays like that, he just never gave up, he said, ‘I want to get a ring, I want to get a ring’,” said Peterson whose first NCAA Tournament appearance came as a player for UNC.  Alexander and Leach were voted as members of the All-Tournament Second Team.  First Team members include Charleston’s Conference Freshman of the Year Leighton Bowie and Jody Lumpkin, Wofford’s Ian Chadwick, Furman’s Karim Souchu and Patterson.  Appalachian will now focus its attention on the second tournament appearance in school history.  The selection show for the 2000 NCAA Tournament will be televised on Sunday evening, with Appalachian most likely going to be playing its first round game in either Salt Lake City, Utah, or Nashville, Tenn.  The Mountaineers’ 1979 tournament squad lost in the first round to the Louisiana State Tigers 71-57 in Bloomington, Ind.

 
   

theapp@appstate.edu