March 9, 2013. ASHEVILLE — Jay Canty and Nathan Healy each scored 13 points as Appalachian State University men’s basketball cruised to a 74-60 win over Furman in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament on Saturday at the US Cellular Center.
The Mountaineers (15-15) raced out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back as they downed the Paladins (7-24) for the ninth-straight time in the league tournament to earn a spot in Sunday’s semifinal round.
After Furman scored the first bucket of the game and the teams traded leads early on, Appalachian took off on a 10-0 run starting at the 14:50 mark of the first half to open its lead to 11 points (18-7) over the next three minutes.
The Apps would lead by as many as 17 points on three different occasions in the first half en route to a comfortable 38-24 halftime lead. Appalachian State shot an impressive 53.6 percent (15-of-28) through the games first 20 minutes as Healy scored nine of his points in the opening frame.
The Paladins would come to life briefly in the second half as a 9-0 run over the first three minutes cut the deficit to just five points (38-33) with 17:36 on the clock.
It would be all Mountaineers from there, however, as Furman could not keep up with a high-powered Appalachian offense that saw its lead swell to 20 points (63-43) on a three-pointer from Jamaal Trice with just under 11 minutes to play.
Furman would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way as Appalachian State cruised to a 14-point victory and a spot in Sunday’s semifinals.
Trice finished with 12 points on the day while Canty shot 6-of-7 from the floor while dishing out six assists. Healy tallied 13 points, four rebounds and three assists while Michael Obacha added eight points and seven boards.
The Paladins were paced by Colin Reddick’s game-high 15 points while Bobby Austin fell just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Appalachian State shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) on the day while limiting Furman to just 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the floor. Both teams pulled down 28 rebounds but the Mountaineers dished out 18 assists while limiting the Paladins to just eight and forcing 18 Furman turnovers.
The Mountaineers will face top-seeded Davidson tomorrow at 6 p.m. for the right to advance to the 2013 Southern Conference Championship game.
GAME NOTES: Appalachian State improved to 39-44 all-time against Furman… the Apps extended their winning streak over the Paladins to four games overall and nine-straight in the league tournament… the Mountaineers are now 9-3 when facing the Paladins at a neutral site… App State’s SoCon Tournament record improved to 42-39, including a 21-18 mark in the quarterfinals… the Mountaineers will make their 21st appearance in the semifinals on Sunday… Appalachian has won at least one game at the SoCon Tournament in each of the past four seasons… Sunday will mark the first time since 2010 that both the Appalachian men and women will play in the semifinals… the Apps are 1-3 when facing Davidson in the tournament… the teams have never met in the semifinals as the Wildcats hold a 2-1 edge in the quarterfinals and are 1-0 against Appalachian in the title game.
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