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Mountaineers lose to UTC, fall to 1-3 in conference |
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Thursday, 19 January 2006 |
 | David Mulvaney | The Appalachian
D.J. Thompson battles some rough Chattanooga defense, but ended up making the lay up.
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by CHRIS ZALUSKI
Sports Editor
The Appalachian State men’s basketball team lost its third Southern Conference game of the season Monday against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 73-57.
The loss was mainly due to a second half drought where the Mocs held
ASU scoreless for nearly 8:00. The Mountaineers were never able to
recover from the slump and fell further behind as the second half
continued.
“The difference in the basketball game to me was the way [UTC]
rebounded the ball in the second half, the play of Jerice Crouch (UTC’s
guard) and the turnovers we had,” ASU head coach Houston Fancher said.
“To me, those were the three things that led to our demise.”
Aside from ASU’s lack of productivity in the second half, Chattanooga’s
Crouch came off the bench to give the Mocs a needed spark. Prior to the
game, Crouch averaged 7.4 points a game. Crouch tripled his season
average, scoring 22 points in only 23 minutes of play.
“Jerice is a spark plug,” UTC head coach John Shulman said. “He’s a guy we bring in off the bench and he brings instant energy.”
Despite this instant energy, the Mountaineers matched up well against the Mocs in the first half.
 | David Mulvaney | The Appalachian
Jeremy Harper's body language says it all. Monday night ASU had a dissapointing breakdown in the second half and ended up losing 73-57 to Chattanooga. |
Both teams came out strong in different areas. UTC was able to
establish a post presence whereas Appalachian found early success
passing the ball around the perimeter and making three-pointers.
Four of Appalachian’s first six baskets came in the form of the three-pointers, giving ASU an early 16-13 lead.
Despite the Mountaineers’ momentum, UTC, especially Crouch, always responded.
After a Douglass McLaughlin-Williams three-pointer to put ASU up 16-13,
Crouch responded with two three-point plays to give UTC the lead at
19-16. This type of back and forth play was prevalent during the entire
first half.
Appalachian went into the halftime break only trailing 34-32.
The second half proved to be the difference in the game, as ASU could not make the same baskets it made in the first half.
With 15:11 left in the second half, ASU guard Nate Cranford made a
three-pointer, tying the game at 44. When it looked like the
Mountaineers might begin to pull away, the Mocs held Appalachian
scoreless for the next 8:00 minutes.
“We missed a lot of shots that we could have made,” ASU guard D.J.
Thompson said. “Their defense did a great job of making us shoot those
shots, but we have to knock them down.”
Appalachian shot only 32 percent from the field in the second half and made only two of 13 three-point attempts.
Regardless of ASU’s poor shooting, the Mountaineers also had problems
gaining a presence in the post. UTC double teamed Appalachian’s
forwards, mainly McLaughlin-Williams and Jeremy Clayton, allowing the
Mocs to outrebound ASU 43-31.
UTC also defended the Mountaineers effectively, as it had 9 steals and forced 19 ASU turnovers.
“They made a lot of nice plays tonight, they hit some big shots, they
crashed the boards really hard and that, compounded with our turnovers
tonight, we couldn’t get the job done,” ASU’s Nate Cranford said.
Cranford and Thompson both led the way for the Mountaineers. Cranford
made five three-pointers and had 17 points while Thompson had 20 points
and five steals.
With the loss, the Mountaineers fall to 7-10 overall with a 1-3 SoCon record.
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