 Nerves are not just for freshmen.
Even seniors can tense up before big games.
“I was really nervous coming into this game,” senior guard Kellen Brand said. “I was extremely nervous. Coach kind of got me to calm down. Once I did that, I felt fine. Just by me being a senior, I felt like I had a lot of weight on my back coming into this game.”
Having a player the caliber of Donald Sims playing with him probably helped Brand calm down significantly.
Sims poured in 30 points, including 21 in the second half, to help Appalachian State knock off the Citadel 71-61 in the SoCon Tournament semifinals.
The Mountaineers led by just three points at halftime before shooting 58 percent in the second half to ensure the victory.
“The first 20 minutes, our guys were very excited to be there,” head coach Buzz Peterson said. “Once we got settled down, I thought we did a very good job the first 10 minutes of the second half executing.”
One of the keys to Appalachian’s win was stopping the Bulldogs’ Cameron Wells. Wells was the third leading scorer in the Southern Conference coming in at 17.4 points a game.
The Mountaineers limited Wells to 11 points on 4-14 shooting.
“Our emphasis on defense was [stopping] one of the better players in the league in Wells,” Peterson said. “We had to make sure we did a good job of guarding him. We had to make sure we did not let him get to the paint and draw fouls on us our post us up. I thought our guys did a good job on that.”
Sims pointed to a jumper he made as time expired in the first half as one of the turning points in the game.
“It was a tough shot,” Sims said. “It was a good shot for us. I hit it and put us up three and got us a little momentum going into half. We had the ball to start the second half so it was a good momentum booster.”
Brand contributed 15 points, and Ike Butts added 11 points and seven rebounds to the ASU cause.
Peterson believed the Apps benefited from significant fan support in the arena.
“It’s neat to see the App fans come out and support us like that,” he said. “It’s good to see that, and hopefully we will continue to see that.”
The win put ASU into the semifinals for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
The Mountaineers will face the College of Charleston tonight at 8:30.
“We have to be consistent [against Appalachian],” Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. “We’ve got to play better defense. It should be a heck of a game.”
Story by: ROB JENKINS, Sports Editor
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