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Davidson Finishes Off Season-Sweep of Mountaineers

Mike Neal and the Mountaineers were unable to overcome a fast start by Davidson in an 87-52 loss at Belk Arena on Saturday. Photo by Tyler Buckwell and courtesy of Appalachian Sports Information
Mike Neal and the Mountaineers were unable to overcome a fast start by Davidson in an 87-52 loss at Belk Arena on Saturday. Photo by Tyler Buckwell and courtesy of Appalachian Sports Information

Feb. 11, 2013. DAVIDSON, N.C. – A hot-shooting Davidson squad was too much to overcome as Appalachian State University men’s basketball saw its two-game winning streak come to an end with an 87-52 Southern Conference loss on Saturday at Belk Arena. 

The Mountaineers (10-13, 6-6 SoCon) dropped their second game of the season to the Wildcats (17-7, 12-1), who picked up their first home win over Appalachian since Feb. 27, 2008. 

Davidson, which shot an incredible 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the floor in the first half, including a 7-of-14 mark beyond the arc en route to an insurmountable 49-23 halftime lead.  

After jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead on back-to-back three pointers from Nik Cochran and Chris Czerapowicz, the Wildcats were able to extend the lead to 10-2 before the Mountaineers found life and closed the deficit to 14-10 when Mike Neal connected from beyond the arc with 15:23 left in the half.

The Apps would pull within four points again (16-12) when Tevin Baskin put home a layup with just under 14 minutes to play, but it was all the closer the squad would get as Davidson reeled off a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to grab a 28-16 lead on a De’Mon Brooks layup with 8:35 on the clock. 

The Wildcats never saiw their lead dip below 10 points for the remainder of the period, held Appalachian without a field goal over the final 6:39 of the half and ended the half on a 10-0 run, capped off by a Czerapowicz three-pointer at the buzzer, to take a 26-point lead into the locker room. 

A three-pointer from Nathan Healy at the 18:44 mark of the second half would break a 7:59 scoring drought for the Mountaineers and made the score 51-26, but the Wildcats continue to pour in the points over the game’s final 20 minutes.

Davidson saw its lead swell to 36 points (66-30) just seven minutes into the second half and never led by less than 32 points the rest of the way as App State was never able to mount a serious run over the game’s final 13 minutes. 

The Mountaineers were held to just 30.0 percent (18-of-60) from the floor while the Wildcats connected on 53.6 percenct (30-of-56) of its shots, including an 83.3 percent (20-of-24) mark from the free-throw line.

Healy led the Apps in scoring and rebounding with 13 points and six boards while Baskin poured in 12 off the bench. Neal tallied nine points , four rebounds and three assists.

Czerapowicz keyed Davidson’s attack with 10 points and 11 rebounds while Brooks added 13 and Jake Cohen scored 14 to go along with five assists. JP Kuhlman dished out a game-high seven assists and scored eight points. 

The Wildcats corralled 42 rebounds to Appalachian’s 32 and dished out 21 assists while limiting the Mountaineers to just seven. Each team finished with two blocks as Brian Okam led all players with two blocks.

Appalachian State returns home to take on Furman at 8 p.m. on Monday as part of a men’s/women’s hoops doubleheader.

GAME NOTES: Appalachian State dropped to 32-40 all-time against the Wildcats including a 14-20 mark when facing Davidson on the road… the loss snapped a two-game winning streak at Belk Arena for the Mountaineers, who had defeated Davidson on its home floor in 2009-10 and ‘10-11… the 35-point loss marked the largest margin of defeat for the Apps in the all-time series with the Wildcats… it was also the squad’s largest margin of defeat since a 78-43 loss at Texas on Jan. 2, 2009… the loss also marked the team’s largest margin of defeat in a conference game since Jan. 5, 1974 when the Mountaineers fell to Furman by a 111-71 final… Cochran became the third Davidson player since the 2007-08 season to score his 1,000th career-point against the Apps… Appalachian’s 30.0 percent field-goal percentage was the team’s lowest since shooting 28.8 percent (15-of-52) in a loss to Wofford in the 2010 SoCon Tournament championship game.