Monthly Archives: February 2013

Men’s Basketball edges Samford in 2OT’s

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The game between Appalachian and Samford on Thursday night in the Holmes Dome is about as big of a game that Appalachian will play this season. Elon has already wrapped up the North division crown, while Samford, Appalachian and Western Carolina will fight it out for the fourth overall seed for the SoCon tourney. Western and Appalachian play the same teams in reverse order in Samford and Chattanooga both at home, while Samford is on the road for both games. Whichever team can go 2-0 this weekend will win that fourth seed most likely, but is extremely possible that this thing gets real weird and we head to break this tie on some ridiculous rule the SoCon invented.

Samford 9-7 .563 6-3 3-4 0-0 W1 11-18 .379 7-6 4-10 0-2 W1
Appalachian State 8-8 .500 5-2 3-6 0-0 L1 12-15 .444 8-4 4-11 0-0 L1
Western Carolina 8-8 .500 3-4 5-4 0-0 L2 12-17 .414 6-5 5-11 1-1 W1

If Appalachian can go 2-0, that puts them at 10-8, and Samford could finish 10-8 at best, by beating Western, who would finish 9-7 in this scenario. Tiebreaker would go to Appalachian for beating second seeded Elon once.

If Appalachian can go 2-0, Samford goes 0-2, and Western goes 2-0, which would tie Appalachian and Western, the tiebreaker would go to Appalachian, once again for beating Elon once.

Appalachian could go 1-1 and still get the fourth seed, but it starts and begins with beating Samford. Without beating Samford, Appalachian’s seed will be out of their control.

Just for fun, if Western and Samford tie at 10-8, the tiebreaker would go to Samford for beating Charleston once.

Can the Mountaineers beat Samford. Of course, if they play to their best game and to their potential. In the first matchup, Samford played lights outs, hitting all the shots they needed to hit, quieting every Mountaineer run. The Bulldogs shot 55% from the field and 47% from three point land. Any time a shoots that well, it is going to be tough sledding beating them on the road, seven hours from your campus.

The early line is 3.5 points, favoring the Mountaineers. As has happened all year long, the line will move. Appalachian has covered in every game against North Division opponents at home this year, but has struggled recently against the South. Samford has covered the spread in twelve of its last fourteen games, with the other two games resulting in pushes. That is an incredible stretch that has to come to an end soon. We will watch the line and make our pick tomorrow.

Postgame:

In order to remain in contention for the bye, Appalachian did what it needed to do, even if it took them ten extra minutes. The Mountaineers led the entire first half, at one point by as many as twelve points, but as has been the case all season, Appalachian would relinquich that lead. After trailing by twelve points in the first half, Samford went on a long run that lasted close to twenty minutes of game time that put them ahead by eight points with 4:08 to play in the game. During that stretch, Samford outscored the Mountaineers 39-19.

When Samford grabbed their largest lead of the game with 4:08 to play in the second half, at 59-51, it was the last points they would score in regulation. Appalachian went on a 8-0 run themselves. Jamaal Trice scored five of his team leading 18 points during that stretch.

The first overtime period was an awful five minutes of basketball to watch. The two teams combined to shoot 1/9 in the period, with Appalachian’s two points coming on the free throw line by the most unlikely of players in Michael Obacha. The second overtime saw Appalachian score nine points in the first three minutes, and held on to win down the stretch as Samford failed to score in the final 2:18 of the game.

Appalchian improves its record against the spread to 14-9, which is our record as well. Saturday could bring about an interesting number consider the nature of how the first game between Appalachian and Chattanooga went down. Appalachian will be in a situation where they can win the game and secure the fourth seed and final bye heading into the SoCon tournament.

 

Women’s Basketball 77 UNC-Greensboro 46

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If Appalachian had any lingering effects from their loss on Monday at Elon, they let them all loose on Greensboro. The Mountaineers never trailed in this game, and raced out to a sixteen point lead at halftime over the Spartans. The Mountaineers eventually led by as many as thirty five points in the second half before closing out the game with a twenty-nine point win. Greensboro may have still had some ill effects from their food poisoning from over the weekend.

Appalachian was led by three players in doubles figures with Maryah Sydnor scoring 18 points,  and Anna Freeman and Courtney Freeman adding 13 points each. Anna Freeman secured 11 rebounds while Kelsey Sharkey pulled down 10 rebounds. The Mountaineers bested the Spartans in every statistical category, outside of free throw attempts. Somehow the Spartans only committed five fouls the entire game. The Mountaineers hit 52% from the field, and hit more threes (5), than they did free throws (4).

Appalachian is now a full game ahead of Elon, with both teams having tough tests remaining. Appalachian hosts Chattanooga and Samford this weekend while Elon has Davidson remaining on their schedule. If the Mountaineers want the third seed, they are going to have to win at least one of their remaining games to feel good about themselves. The third seed would put Appalachian on the same side of the bracket as Davidson, who they cannot seem to beat. If the Mountaineers slip to the fourth seed, they would find themselves on the same side as Chattanooga.

Baseball now 5-1 after late rally vs. High Point

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Southpaw Chad Farmer will make his first start on Wednesday afternoon against High Point. This will be Farmer’s third career start and his first since his freshman year in 2011. Coincidentally, Farmer’s first career loss came to High Point. Farmer has primarily been a long reliever throughout his career, mostly being used when the Mountaineers were trailing in games. Farmer only pitched 15.1 innings last season, all of them coming out of the bullpen.

High Point starter Ryan Retz was scheduled to start against the Mountaineers last season off the mountain, but that game was a complete washout that was never made up. Retz works mainly as the High Point first baseman, where he is one of the leading batters on the team. Retz has yet to pitch yet this season.

This game pits a battle of two different styles, as High Point has used small ball thus far this season to lead them to five wins, while Appalachian has become a team of bomb squaders, already with ten home runs on the season in only five games. Appalachian has six regulars currently batting over .300 while seven different Mountaineers have hit a home run this season, led by Alex Leach, Jaylin Davis and Preston Troutman with two home runs each.

Postgame:

Chad Farmer struggled from the start, giving up six hits and only striking out two batters through the first three innings before he was relieved by Josh Wilson out of the bullpen. Wilson came in a held the Mountaineers close until the bats warmed up in the eighth inning. Wilson only gave up two hits in four complete innings and is credited with his first win of the season. Once the Mountaineers tied the game in the seventh, Taylor Thurber came on and retired the side.

High point scored four runs in the first three innings, taking a 4-1 lead after the third inning and holding onto it until the home half of the seventh. High scored in the first and second innings on back to back lead off doubles to start both innings. Appalachian scored in the third inning on a slew of fielders choice plays by High Point.

Appalachian used a triple by Alex Leach, a double by Josh Zumbrook and a sacrifce fly by Will Callaway to draw even with High Point in the seventh inning. High Point used three pitchers in the inning. In the eighth, Jaylin Davis was hit in the head by a pitch and gave way for Thomas Kincaid to pinch run with one out. A single by Hector Crespo and a fly out by William Head put runners on the corners for Alex Leach. As he has done all year long, Leach came through in the clutch, delivering a two out double to left field that easily scored Head and the speedy Crespo to give Appalachian its first lead of the game

The ninth inning was left for Rob Marcello who retired the side in order on a pair of ground outs and a strikeout to end the game. Marcello picked up his third save in only the sixth game for Appalachian. Alex Leach drove in four Mountaineer runs, giving him twelve on the season. Leach is the first Mountaineer with ten hits this season. His ten hits break down to 5 doubles, 2 home runs, 2 singles and one triple. His slugging percentage is a ridiculous .958.

Conference season starts this weekend as the Mountaineers visit Davidson for a three game set.

Women’s Basketball 58 Elon 75

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Appalachian travelled to Elon on Sunday afternoon in preparation for a Monday night game that will help decide seeding in the SoCon Tournament. Appalachian is one win in front of Elon in the current standings, and will be looking to sweep the Phoenix. Having the tiebreaker over Elon would be huge as Appalachian will now play four games in eight days after their game with UNC-Greensboro on Saturday was moved as the Spartans players and coaches suffered from food poisoning.

Appalachian stifled Elon in their first game of the season. The Mountaineers cruised to an eighteen point win back on February 2nd. Appalachian employed an interesting strategy on Elon star Ali Ford, who eventually fouled out of the game. Ford will need to stay on the court in order to pull the upset on Appalachian. The Mountaineers have played very well recently, focusing more on an inside game and shying away from shooting from the perimeter. The Mountaineer defense has also played well recently. Elon has a lot of height on their roster, but they are all sticks, and lack any real skill and bulk on the interior. Elon is 10-2 this season at home compared to Appalachian who is 7-5 on the road this season.

Postgame:

Elon flexed their muscle with massive runs in each half that Appalachianwas not able to overcome. The Mountaineers had been doubled up in the first half after going down 26-13 on the backs of Elon’s three point shooting. The Mountaineers rallied to cut Elon’s lead at halftime to six points. Appalachian and Elon traded baskets in the second half, with Applachian cutting the lead to one on two different occasions before Elon went on another run. Appalachian saw foul trouble from the only player who was bringing anything on offense when Maryah Sydnor picked up her fourth foul. From there, Elon continued to share the basketball, finding open players for easy baskets while the Mountaineers turned the ball over time after time.

Anna Freeman may have had her worst game in years. She scored three points and only made one basket and recoreded a season low in field goal attempts. She failed to record a block shot or steal for the first time all season long. Luckily Maryah Sydnor showed up, but unfortunately, no other Mountaineer did. Sydnor scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but the pressure of being the only contributor got to her as she committed seven turnovers. Courtney Freeman scored thirteen points but committed five turnovers of her own.

As we catch our breath, and step back and assess the situation, Appalachian can still finish third in the regular season. Currently Appalachian and Elon are tied in the conference standings with 12 conference wins, although Elon has one more loss than Appalachian. If Appalachian and Elon tie in the conference standings, tiebreaker goes to the top of the standings and the team record against first place and on down until the tie is broken. Luckily, for Appalachian, Chattanooga clinched the regular season tonight by beating Davidson and has nothing left to play for until the tournament. Appalachian will play Chattanooga on Saturday and can hopefully steal a win from the Mocs. Appalachian will play their makeup game from last Saturday on Wednesday afternoon, and a win over the Spartans is highly in need based on tonight’s poor performance.

Baseball (4-1) takes two games from Butler

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NOTE: While basketball is still in season, baseball updates will be abbreviated to series entries. Once the SoCon Basketball Tournament concludes, regular baseball entries will return.

Appalachian won the home series over Butler by splitting the doubleheader on Saturday and winning the rubber match on Sunday afternoon. Both games were played in very cool weather, as Saturday was overcast, while Sunday was sunny, but very windy. Pitching was the difference all weekend long for the Mountaineers.

In game one, Jamie Nunn struck out six batter in seven innings, while only giving up two runs on five hits to get his second win of the season. Appalachian scored four runs in the sixth inning which brought on mostly by a three-run home run by first baseman Alex Leach. Jaylin Davis hit his second home run of the season , a solo shot, on a laser to left center field that never elevated over twenty feet in the air when it went out. Taylor Thurber finished the last innings of the game in a non-save situation giving the Mountaineers the 6-2 win.

In game two, Jeffrey Spring struggled for the second time this season. Many of the hits Butler got off of Springs were just finding the holes as nothing was really hit with too much power behind it. Springs was pulled in the fourth inning after giving up nine runs on nine hits. Only five of his runs were earned as Appalachian committed five errors in the game. Noah Holmes was uncharacteristic with three errors and Will Callaway was charged with two. Butler banged out 17 hits in the 12-7 win. Freshman Preston Tiller and Dillon Dobson were given starts in right field and first base respectively.


In game three, Appalachian got a decent start from Sam Agnew-Wieland. Also known as “The Hypen”, Agnew-Wieland had a rough fourth inning, giving up five runs in the frame, but otherwise put up six zeroes on the board through seven innings. Sam struck out seven batters, while only walking one. Alex Leach hit his second home run in as many days, this one a solo shot in the third inning. Brandon Burris added a two run homer in the four run seventh inning for the Mountaineers. The Hypen earned his second victory of the season while Tyler Moore worked a scoreless eight inning and Rob Marcello pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.

Appalachian is now 4-1 on the season and will face off against High Point (5-2) on Tuesday.

SoCon Baseball SoCon Overall
Team Record Pct Home Away Neutral Record Pct Home Away Neutral
Furman 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 5-1 .833 5-1 0-0 0-0
Appalachian State 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-1 .800 3-1 1-0 0-0
Samford 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 6-3 .667 4-1 1-1 1-1
Davidson 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-2 .667 4-1 0-1 0-0
Georgia Southern 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-2 .667 3-2 1-0 0-0
UNCG 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-2 .667 4-2 0-0 0-0
Citadel 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-3 .571 3-1 1-2 0-0
Elon 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-3 .571 2-2 2-0 0-1
Wofford 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 4-3 .571 4-2 0-1 0-0
College of Charleston 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-4 .429 3-1 0-1 0-2
Western Carolina 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-4 .429 3-1 0-0 0-3

Men’s Basketball 77 The Citadel 80

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The Citadel is not your average six win team. Even though three of their wins came in 2012, the Bulldogs have knocked off three SoCon teams this season. All of those SoCon opponents came from the weak South Division, and by using the transitive property, all of teams Citadel has beaten, Appalachian has also defeated. Of their SoCon wins, Georgia Southern is athletic, but a poor team overall, Wofford is terribly young, and Furman is about as untalented as it gets in the conference. The Bulldogs are also 2-10 on the road this season, with two of those wins coming in Statesboro and Greenville. In fact the Bulldogs have not won a game this season played north of the NC/SC border.

Although the Bulldogs are a tough team to scout, they do stick to a zone defense and like to get the ball inside. Rarely do you see a strategy in college basketball, where on one side of the court, you try to slow the game down, and on the other, try to lenghthen the game by drawing fouls in the frontcourt. Three Citadel players average in double figures, led by Mike Groselle, scoring 15.1 points per game, while also pulling in 7.3 rebounds. PJ Horgan pours in 11.1 points per game while adding 6.4 rebounds per game. Matt Van Scyoc adds 10.9 points per game.

The key for Appalachian of late has been the play of Michael Obacha. He is easily the most improved player on the team this season. Obacha has improved his presence in the post, getting open for easy layups, and has avoided foul trouble for the most part. Add to that, Obacha was shooting well under 50% from the free throw line earlier in the season, and has improved to 50%. It does not seem like much, but his efficiency has increased and he just looks more confident on the line.

We will update the spread in the morning. Our feeling is that Appalachian will be favored, and it could be close to ten points.

1:04 PM UPDATE: Appalachian is favored by 9.5 points. This is a really tough one. App has had trouble a couple times this season covering at home to South Division foes. I am really feeling taking Citadel in this one. Only some serious line movement will point me towards Appalachian on this one.

7:37 PM UPDATE: Holy bonkers the spread moved to 10.5. This is shocking. I just don’t feel it. App may lead by more than 10 before the game is over, but I don’t think they hold it. I am taking The Citadel to cover 10.5.

Postgame:

We are going to make this short and sweet because complaining is not going to change the result. Appalachian led by nine points in the first half, playing against a glorified intramural team, and squandered the lead and was forced to tie the game at halftime on a 75 foot, one-handed heave by Tevin Baskin that hit off the backboard and found the bottom of the net as time expired. Once again that tied the game at 34 at halftime.

Without some three pointers by Mike Neal and Tab Hamilton late in the game, Appalachian would have never found themselves in contention for overtime. The Mountaineers hit eight threes in the second half, which accounted for 24 of their 34 second half points. Even though Michael Obacha has played better of late, he has yet to play against a player like Mike Groselle, who plays a different style of center than any player in the league. He is their point guard in the post and their entire offense goes through him. Appalachian’s post players never make the pass back out of the post to an open shooter while The Citadel lives on it.

Somehow, Appalachian still finds itself in position to secure the bye in the SoCon Tourney that they should not want, nor deserve. The bye will come down to the game next weekend, starting with Samford on Thursday night. Appalachian trails Samford by one game in the North standings. Appalachian and Western Carolina are tied for fifth overall, and working out the tiebreaker scenarios will be futile until after Thursday’s results. This is much is certain, if Appalachian wants the fourth seed and the bye that comes with it, beating Samford comes first.

Appalachian did not cover the spread, and did not cover in a very lopsided manner. The Mountaineers were nearly 11 point favorites and perhaps turned that into the worst loss in school history. I went with The Citadel, the first time I had taken the opponent since East Carolina. Now Appalachian and myself are 14-8 against the spread this season. After starting 10-0 to start the season, App is 4-8 since.

Women’s Basketball 74 Charleston 65

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Appalachian has played some of its best defense in the last week or so, and they will need another effort like the last few games to hold off Charleston. The Cougars are a very interesting team this season. After two years of being well below average, the Cougars have found some momentum and find themselves in sixth place in the SoCon. Charleston sits only a half game out of fifth place Samford, which would put them in great position in the tournament if they could get there. The top five seeds would have to play one fewer game to get to the conference final. Equally as interesting, if the Cougars finish 6th, which is most likely, they would potentially meet the third seed in the quarterfinals, which right now, would be Appalachian. The thought that these two teams could meet again in ten days makes this matchup even more intriguing.

In the first matchup of the season, Appalachian held on for an eight point win on the road, just a little over a month ago. Charleston was dominate on the offensive glass, with 25 for the game, something that has been a problem for Appalachian all season. Charleston only hit four of their thirty three point attempts and were 11/25 from the free throw line. Conversely, it was a game where Appalachian was successful shooting from long range, hitting six three pointers. Both shooting stats where the exact opposite of how both teams had played prior to their game. Add that Charleston has played well of late, and you have an opportunity for an upset here. Appalachian has only lost one home game this season, but have always been good for losing one game they should not have at home in the past. If Charleston can hit a few threes early it will give Appalachian a run for their money.

Postgame:

Even thought the final margin was nine points, Appalachian led by as many as nineteen points in the late second half while cruising to their eighteenth win of the season. Charleston battle with the Mountaineers early in a very physical contest that eventually took a toll on the Cougars. Forty-five fouls were called in the game, but Charleston’s key players took a bigger hit than did the Mountaineers. Appalachian was able to build its lead late in the second half, and was never really threatened for the remainder of the game.

The story of the game, and of the past couple weeks is the play of Kelsey Sharkey. She has shown more offensive skill recently than she has in her career. Sharkey takes high percantage shots, and has played to her strengths just about as well as Mountaineer. Against Charleston, Sharkey scored fourteen points and grabbed fourteen rebounds, while adding five blocks and three steals. Anna Freeman continued her run of strong defensive play. Anna has put up a double-double in four straight games. Her line was 18 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 assists. Anna has blocked 12 Cougar shots in two games this season, and has 13 of her 55 blocked shots this season in her last three games.

Women’s Basketball 63 Western Carolina 32

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One way to look at this game, is that Appalachian did a great job of playing defense and holding Western to only 32 points. Otherwise, Appalachian was fortunate that they had one of their worst offensive nights against one of the worst teams in the conference. Considering the Mountaineers only gave up 50 to Wofford on Saturday, you have to like where this team is headed. According to Darcie Vincent, Appalachian could have “scored a 100 with all of those missed layups.” That is vintage Darcie, always urging her team to play better, and that there is always room for improvement. Eventually this kind of talk may fall on deaf ears, but we are certainly a fan of giving 100% on every given night.

Western was awful on a special level. The Catamounts shot 11/52 for the night, good enough for 21%. That number is what Western had to improve to, as much of the second half, the Catamounts were shooting in the teens. The Cats somehow managed to hit two three pointers – of their nineteen attempts. Eight of their thirty-two points came on the free throw line. That one fourth of their points, on the free throw line. Usually, that is a good thing, but not when you are held under a point a minute. Western actually had two players score six points, and eleven of their players scored. Usually when eleven players score in a game, its a good thing, but not so for Western Carolina tonight.

Several Mountaineers turned out big games. As per usual, Anna Freeman was the leader in several categories, but also outhustled basically the entire Catamount team. Anna finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 blocks. Western Carolina only had one block. Maryah Sydnor took home the honors of the game’s leading scorer with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Kelsey Sharkey continues her solid play, scoring 8 points, but adding 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Courtney Freeman rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Next up for the Mountaineers is Charleston on Wednesday, part of a doubleheader with the men playing the Citadel. The Cougars have been hot recently, just beating Davidson last week and Samford on Monday night.

Baseball 13 Canisius 6

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After the NC State double header was minimized to a single game, and then to cancelling the final two games of the series, Appalachian returned to Boone for their home opener against Canisius. NC State coach Elliot Avant basically said it was too cold and windy to play baseball on Sunday. The temperature in Raleigh on Sunday was right at 34 degrees at 1pm. Last year, Appalachian played in snow against Rider and in flurries against High Point. Several times last year the wind was recorded over 20 mph when games started at Smith Stadium. We didnt realize agriculuture came to a halt when the weather turned uncomfortable in Raleigh.

 Appalachian started their game against Canisius with a 45 degree temperature and 6 mph wind, at 3pm. By the time the game ended, three hours later, the temperature had fallen to 38 degrees and the wind was gusting to 15 mph. We call that another day in the High Country, but surely the Wolfpack would have needed some long johns.

Despite the cool weather, Appalachian’s bats were hot early on in the game. After hitting three home runs on Friday against NC State, Appalachian hit three home runs in the second inning on Monday afternoon. Preston Troutman led off the inning with his second home run of the season. Two batters later, Josh Zumbrook homered on a 1-0 count to left field. Three batters later, Dillon Dobson hit his first home run as a Mountaineers over the left field pitch on the first pitch of the at bat. The four run second inning was the highlight of the day, as Appalachian scored in five of their eight at bats, amassing 13 runs on 15 hits. Preston Troutman (.500) led all batters with three hits, while Josh Zumbrook (.250), Brandon Burris (.222), Alex Leach (.250), and Dillon Dobson (.250) collected two hits each. Hector Crespo (.111) was the only Mountaineers to record an at bat without a hit.

Jeffrey Springs started the game on a pitch count, and it took him 75 pitches to get through three innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits, striking out 4, but walking two and hitting two others with pitches. Springs did not last long enough for the decision, which went to Sam Agnew-Wieland, who went 4.1 innings in relief. Sam A.W. also walked two batters and hit two others, while giving up 6 hits, and 2 earned runs while striking out three. Ryne Frankoff finished the game without giving up a hit but walked 2 batters just like his predecessors. It was not a pretty day on the mound, and that is going to happen, but it was extremely nice to have the bats to back it up.

C-Notes: Jamie Nunn was named SoCon Pitcher of the week for picking up the win against NC State…. Appalachian hosts Butler in a Saturday doubleheader and third game on Sunday…Weather is not looking good for baseball this weekend.

Men’s Basketball 76 UNCG 68

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With every team winning yesterday in the SoCon that was expected to, the pressure is on Appalachian to go on the road and win its third conference game of the season. The Mountaineers have played well on the road this season in stretches, but way too many games have been lost when Appalachian struggles to score for several minutes at a time. The list of those games gets longer each week, with Elon being the newest member. Appalachian would be in real good shape if they could have won just one of the games against Chattanooga, Western Carolina, Elon and Samford; all games where they had leads in the second half before letting the game slip away.

North
Elon 11-3 .786 6-1 5-2 0-0 W3 18-8 .692 11-2 7-6 0-0 W3
Samford 8-6 .571 5-2 3-4 0-0 W2 10-17 .370 6-5 4-10 0-2 W2
Western Carolina 8-7 .533 3-3 5-4 0-0 L1 11-16 .407 5-4 5-11 1-1 L1
Appalachian State 7-7 .500 5-1 2-6 0-0 L1 11-14 .440 8-3 3-11 0-0 L1
Chattanooga 6-8 .429 4-3 2-5 0-0 L1 11-16 .407 8-8 3-8 0-0 L1
UNCG 5-8 .385 4-3 1-5 0-0 L2 7-17 .292 6-7 1-10 0-0 L2

 The standings above are of the SoCon North Division, which will most likely make up the 3-8 seeds in the SoCon Tourney. The difference between the second third and fourth seeds are quite amazing. The second seed in the north gets a first round bye. The third seed in the North, now likely the fifth seed will fall into the Davidson bracket, and play mostly afternoon games. The six seed will likely land in the Charleston bracket, and play mostly night games.

Greensboro is one of the trickiest teams in the league. They have arguably two of the best players and can be very streaky at times The Spartans are favored by 4.5 points today which is a larger spread than the 4 points we saw yesterday. This is a really tough one to call. Can Appalachian finally figure out how to close a game on the road? Is Greensboro that much better than Appalachian at home on a Sunday, where the building will be basically empty?

 Postgame:

Appalachian jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the opening minutes, but slowly allowed the Spartans to climb back into the game. Greensboro led by one point at the 5:52 mark of the first half, but that would be their largest lead of the game. Appalachian looked to take a six point lead into the halftime break before Nathan Healy appeared to have the ball poked out of his possession near half court. The official who was out of position and did not see the ball deflect off the Greensboro defender called a back court violation. It was on obvious missed call. On the ensuing possession, Healy fouled while trying to set an aggressive trap at halfcourt. Healy then quickly earned a technical foul for what appeared to choice words directed at the official. Suddenly, Healy had three fouls, and Greensboro converted four free throws to pull the lead to two at halftime.

I can understand Healy being frustrated over a missed call, and can certainly see the frustration foul coming, but a senior needs to set a better example, and not allow his temper to get the better of himself. That was a huge turning point, putting the Spartans on the line for two technical free throws and the one and one, which turned a six point lead to two without the clock rolling. I could see myself being equally upset, but the technical foul was unnecessary.

In the second half, the Mountaineers fought off several Spartan attempts for a rally. Five times the Mountaineers only led by a point in the second half and three times the scored was tied in the game’s final frame. The scored was tied at 53 all with just 6:22 to play, and the Mountaineers outscored the Spartans 23-15 in those final minutes. Over half of the Mountaineers 44 second half points came in the final third of the second half. That is something we have seen all season. Appalachian can go several minutes without a point or score close to four points a minute during certain runs. This up and down scoring will eventually lead to their demise in the SoCon tournament.

Jay Canty had an amazing game with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Canty was able to use his size advantage against the smaller wings from UNCG to get in the post for several easy buckets. Mike Neal had another awful game shooting, but battled through it for 10 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Michael Obacha hit all of his field goal attempts and was solid again from the free throw line hitting five of eight attempts for 11 points and 8 rebounds.

It was a big win for the final road game of the regular season. The fourth seed and bye in the SoCon tourney is still up for grabs. However it may be more beneficial for Appalachian to avoid Davidson in the SoCon Tourney. We believe their chances of winning the tournament are higher by avoiding Davidson, even if it means playing an extra game. However, you may wonder how Appalachian’s short bench could handle playing four games in as many days. The Mountaineers are certainly going to need some help. In the meantime, Appalachian closes with Citadel, Samford and Chattanooga all at home in the next two weeks. Those teams are a combined 7-30 on the road this season. The Samford game will most likely decide whether Appalachian can jump up and grab the fourth seed.

North
Elon 11-3 .786 6-1 5-2 0-0 W3 18-8 .692 11-2 7-6 0-0 W3
Samford 8-6 .571 5-2 3-4 0-0 W2 10-17 .370 6-5 4-10 0-2 W2
Appalachian State 8-7 .533 5-1 3-6 0-0 W1 12-14 .462 8-3 4-11 0-0 W1
Western Carolina 8-7 .533 3-3 5-4 0-0 L1 11-16 .407 5-4 5-11 1-1 L1
Chattanooga 6-8 .429 4-3 2-5 0-0 L1 11-16 .407 8-8 3-8 0-0 L1
UNCG 5-9 .357 4-4 1-5 0-0 L3 7-18 .280 6-8 1-10 0-0 L3