By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics
Immediately after directing App State past host James Madison in a packed, raucous arena on Jan. 13, coach Dustin Kerns challenged the fans of his program to return the favor when the late-January rematch occurred in the High Country.
Kerns could sense that App Nation was ready to answer the challenge well before tipoff Saturday. The game sold out, drawing a crowd of more than 8,000 fans, including a group of students who lined up outside the Holmes Center in rainy conditions roughly five hours before an 82-76 victory that was also seen by a national-television audience on ESPN2.
When his first-place team’s pregame meal ended at 2 p.m., Kerns heard about the gathering and walked outside to see proof for himself before engaging with the fired-up students.
“It was kind of a ‘Wow’ moment,” Kerns said. “That was really cool.”
There are ways to measure basketball milestones in Boone, be it with attendance figures (the official total of 8,052 from Saturday ranks third in Holmes Center history) or even decibel levels (they climbed to 105 thanks to Tre’Von Spillers’ exclamation-point dunk late in the second half).
Relying more on anecdotal evidence than analytical reasoning, the following is true:
This was the best basketball environment in Holmes Center history.
There have been more people in the building. And maybe they’ve been louder. But this was uninterrupted energy and attention, with App State playing the lead instead of being in a supporting role for a highly anticipated show.
With the win, the Mountaineers continued their hot streak, improving to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in the Sun Belt.
“Tonight was about App State,” Kerns said matter of factly.
Within the last two months, we’ve been fortunate to witness the Holmes Center host two sold-out games in which the Mountaineers would lead most of the way, hold off a late rally from a talented, accomplished opponent and trigger a court-storming celebration from students.
The crowd for Auburn’s visit on Dec. 3 was fantastic, but different.
The allure of seeing an SEC team play in Boone — a team that made the Final Four just a few years ago — was undeniable. There was also excitement over the possibility that App State could be good enough to beat a strong opponent of that caliber.
Nearly two months removed from that 69-64 triumph, Saturday was more about supporting a league-leading team that we know is capable of beating strong opposition.
“Tonight did feel different,” Kerns acknowledged.
JMU took the floor with an 18-2 overall record and 6-2 mark in Sun Belt play. The Dukes were just one game behind the Mountaineers in the league standings, the separator being App State’s 59-55 win in Harrisonburg, Va., two weeks earlier.
JMU’s move to the Sun Belt already has produced plenty of dramatic games, back-and-forth bragging rights and (mostly) friendly trash talk among fans. The Dukes’ success and the atmosphere on Jan. 13 contributed to the buildup for Saturday, but fans have been craving a conference game with first-place indications worthy of ESPN’s interest, no matter if it were Georgia Southern, Marshall or any other emotion-stirring adversary occupying the role JMU filled Saturday.
FOMO often kicks in, but this wasn’t about being present or seen at a cool event. You didn’t want to miss the high-stakes hoops on display.
I spent nearly two decades of my professional career covering high-profile basketball games on Tobacco Road. When the teams would head toward their benches and the band’s pace would pick up as the pregame clock counted down toward 0:00, for the big games, you felt something that conveyed you were lucky to be there.
Did you also feel that Saturday night?
I was in Holmes for North Carolina’s house-warming visit in 2000, when the opponent, like with Auburn’s appearance in Boone, merited top billing. I made a special effort to watch Davidson play during the 2008-09 season, just like LeBron James did in Charlotte, because Steph Curry was a generational talent, so it’s no surprise that his trip to App State drew a record crowd of 8,350.
The Mountaineers were the main attraction Saturday, this team the story.
With what essentially was a wire-to-wire win, alternating between double-digit leads for App State and incomplete but threatening comeback attempts from the Dukes, the latest chapter was a memorable one.
We all can play a part in how the rest of the story unfolds.
“Just keep packing Holmes,” shot-blocking star Justin Abson said, “and we’re going to keep winning games for y’all.”
Within the last two months, we’ve been fortunate to witness the Holmes Center host two sold-out games in which the Mountaineers would lead most of the way, hold off a late rally from a talented, accomplished opponent and trigger a court-storming celebration from students.
The crowd for Auburn’s visit on Dec. 3 was fantastic, but different.
The allure of seeing an SEC team play in Boone — a team that made the Final Four just a few years ago — was undeniable. There was also excitement over the possibility that App State could be good enough to beat a strong opponent of that caliber.
Nearly two months removed from that 69-64 triumph, Saturday was more about supporting a league-leading team that we know is capable of beating strong opposition.
“Tonight did feel different,” Kerns acknowledged.
JMU took the floor with an 18-2 overall record and 6-2 mark in Sun Belt play. The Dukes were just one game behind the Mountaineers in the league standings, the separator being App State’s 59-55 win in Harrisonburg, Va., two weeks earlier.
JMU’s move to the Sun Belt already has produced plenty of dramatic games, back-and-forth bragging rights and (mostly) friendly trash talk among fans. The Dukes’ success and the atmosphere on Jan. 13 contributed to the buildup for Saturday, but fans have been craving a conference game with first-place indications worthy of ESPN’s interest, no matter if it were Georgia Southern, Marshall or any other emotion-stirring adversary occupying the role JMU filled Saturday.
FOMO often kicks in, but this wasn’t about being present or seen at a cool event. You didn’t want to miss the high-stakes hoops on display.
I spent nearly two decades of my professional career covering high-profile basketball games on Tobacco Road. When the teams would head toward their benches and the band’s pace would pick up as the pregame clock counted down toward 0:00, for the big games, you felt something that conveyed you were lucky to be there.
Did you also feel that Saturday night?
I was in Holmes for North Carolina’s house-warming visit in 2000, when the opponent, like with Auburn’s appearance in Boone, merited top billing. I made a special effort to watch Davidson play during the 2008-09 season, just like LeBron James did in Charlotte, because Steph Curry was a generational talent, so it’s no surprise that his trip to App State drew a record crowd of 8,350.
The Mountaineers were the main attraction Saturday, this team the story.
With what essentially was a wire-to-wire win, alternating between double-digit leads for App State and incomplete but threatening comeback attempts from the Dukes, the latest chapter was a memorable one.
We all can play a part in how the rest of the story unfolds.
“Just keep packing Holmes,” shot-blocking star Justin Abson said, “and we’re going to keep winning games for y’all.”
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