 Junior forward Jamaal Trice, attempts a shot against a UNCG defender in Thursday nights game. The team lost the game 77-73. Photo by | Paul Heckert
The Appalachian State men’s basketball team put together another inconsistent pair of games this weekend, going 1-1 against SoCon opponents UNCG and Elon.
“I’m starting to sound very redundant now, but we need to do the things necessary to win. You can’t come on the road and turn the ball over 20 times...and expect to win,” said head coach Jason Capel, following Thursday’s 77-73 overtime loss to UNCG.
Appalachian dominated the Spartans for the majority of the first half, before UNCG rallied behind the terrific play of Trevis Simpson and Derrell Armstrong.
Simpson got hot early in the half and finished the period with 17 points. He displayed athleticism and grace, hanging in the air and finishing tough layups around App’s post players.
When Simpson cooled off, Armstrong took over, scoring 14.
The two players finished with 24 and 27, respectively.
Appalachian showed resolve, rallying from a seven-point deficit with less than 90 seconds to play, thanks to several critical Spartan mistakes.
UNCG fouled Mike Neal on a 3-pointer and later put six men out the court, resulting in a technical foul for the Mountaineers.
“To allow six guys to be on the floor when you have a chance to close out a game and give up a technical and two points is a major, major mistake,” said rookie head coach Wes Miller, who has now won six straight games for the resurgent Spartans. “These guys had my back tonight. That’s the kind of mistake you can’t make as a head coach and I made it.”
Unfortunately, Appalachian missed critical free throws, allowing UNCG to take the game into overtime, where Appalachian fell 77-73.
“We had a 17 point lead and we let them back in there,” senior Omar Carter said.
The Mountaineers rebounded Saturday against the Elon Phoenix, who are first place in the SoCon North. Appalachian rode hot during the second half, shooting to blow past Elon 81-66.
Omar Carter and Jamaal Trice each scored 20 points to lead the Mountaineers.
The critical moment happened midway through the second half, when the Mountaineers caught fire and ripped off a 10-0 run, highlighted by a Nathan Healy 3-pointer from the top of the key. Healy took a pass from Omar Carter and buried the jumper, causing a raucous Mountaineer crowd to erupt.
The Mountaineers made their scoring look easy, as Carter consistently drained his go-to 15- foot baseline jumper.
“I was feeling it. I figure that’s my game. I wasn’t settling for threes. A lot of the time when I have a bad game I settle for threes - I figure my game is a lot more in the mid-range,” said Carter, who finished 9-13 from the field.
Despite playing good basketball for most of the weekend, the Mountaineers now set their eyes on a new goal: winning two straight conference games.
“We have an opportunity now. What we have to do is just take it one game at a time,” Coach Capel said, following the win over Elon.
Though the team seems to click on occasion, mistake-prone basketball and poor decisions have plagued Appalachian.
Against the Spartans, ASU fell back on bad habits from the beginning of the season.
Too often, the Mountaineers drain the shot clock by dribbling between 30 and 35 feet away from the basket before attempting a contested jump-shot.
However, the Apps have shown ways to break this stagnant offense with the success of one play in particular. Against Elon and UNCG, Appalachian passed the ball to Healy, standing at the foul line, who then lobbed the ball over his head to a cutting Isaac Butts in the paint for an easy layup.
After succeeding with this play against the Spartans, Coach Capel turned and shouted, “It is that easy! It’s there every time!”
The Mountaineers will have to rely on easy points like that to regain control of the SoCon North.
Story: JAKE AMBERG, Sports Editor
Photo: OLIVIA WILKES, Senior Photographer
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