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Apps Blast UNC-Greensboro in Second Half with 18-2 Run for 5th-Straight Win, Half-game Behind First Place

Nathan Healy matched a career high with 24 points in Monday's 83-70 victory over UNCG. Photo by Tyler Buckwell and courtesy of Appalachian Sports Information
Nathan Healy matched a career high with 24 points in Monday’s 83-70 victory over UNCG. Photo by Tyler Buckwell and courtesy of Appalachian Sports Information

Jan. 15, 2013. Appalachian State University men’s basketball held UNCG without a field goal for the first 7:28 of the second half, spurring an 18-2 run that propelled the Mountaineers to an 83-70 triumph on Monday evening at the Holmes Center.

With its fifth-straight victory and sixth win in its last seven games, Appalachian State (7-8, 3-1 SoCon) drew within a half-game of Western Carolina for first place in the SoCon North Division standings. Losses by WCU and Davidson on Monday night left Appalachian among a group of five SoCon teams tied in the loss column with just one conference defeat apiece.

Much like Saturday’s 10-point win over Elon, Appalachian never led in the first half and found itself down by seven at halftime when UNCG’ took a 39-32 lead on Kevin McNeil’s putback at the buzzer.

However, the Mountaineers needed less than three minutes after the break to erase the seven-point deficit and took their first lead of the evening at 41-39 on a Tab Hamilton three-pointer just 2:57 into the second half. Appalachian State went on to score the first 13 points of the second period before UNCG finally snapped its scoreless skid with a pair of free throws 4:34 into the half.

By the time the Spartans managed to sink their first field goal of the second half with 12:32 to go in the ballgame, Appalachian had extended its lead to 50-41 and never led by less than five points the rest of the way.

Nathan Healy matched a career high with 24 points and fell just one rebound short of his third-career double-double to lead Appalachian State. Mike Neal added 19 points, 16 of which came in the second half, while Tevin Baskin chipped in with 16 and Jay Canty scored 14 to pace four Mountaineers in double-figures.

UNCG was led by a team-best 22 points while Derrell Armstrong tallied 20 but no other Spartan scored more than seven points.

Appalachian shot 43.9 percent (25-for-57) on the night, including a blistering 62.5 percent in the second half, and connected on 28-of-34 free throws. UNCG shot 42.6 percent (23-for-54) but shot just 69.2 percent from the charity stripe and committed 14 turnovers.

The Mountaineers return to action at Chattanooga at 7 p.m. on Thursday before heading to Samford for an 8 p.m. showdown on Saturday.

GAME NOTES: Appalachian State improved to 21-18 all-time against UNCG… the Apps also improved to 12-8 when facing the Spartans in Boone… Monday’s victory gives Appalachian its longest winning streak since the 2009-10 squad won six in a row… App State outscored UNCG 36-24 in the paint and 24-10 off turnovers.