Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Junior guard Shawn Hall led the Mountaineers to a 85-69 victory over Wofford, scoring 23 points in Monday night’s win over the Terriers. The Mountaineers improved to 9-15 overall and 4-9 in conference play.

Mountaineers snap three-game
losing streak, throttle Wofford 85-69

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

A steady dose of tough defense and the hot hand of guard Shawn Hall were enough to propel the Appalachian State University men’s basketball team to a 85-69 victory Monday night in Southern Conference action against Wofford College.

The 5-foot-6-inch junior transfer from Kankakee Community College in Milwaukee, Wis., poured in 23 points on nine-for-12 shooting, including four of seven from behind the three-point line.

Forwards Nate Carson and Donald Payne chipped in 12 points apiece and Josh Shehan added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Mountaineers improved to 9-15 overall and 4-9 in the conference while the Terriers fall to 11-14 overall and 5-8 in the conference.

Appalachian State’s ability to contain Wofford guards Lee Nixon and Mike Lenzly proved similarly effective, holding the two to only 16 points total on six-for-19 shooting collectively.

Lenzly and Nixon entered the contest averaging 15.1 and 14.1 points per game respectively.

The Mountaineers rebounded from a three-game losing streak to take a 23-16 lead in the first half after a layup by forward Josh Shehan with 7:22 left to play.

Hall buried two out of his first three three-point attempts and finished the first half with 10 points.

Appalachian State expanded its lead to 10, 34-24, after a basket by forward Donald Payne.

The Terriers cut the deficit to five entering halftime after a pair of free throws by Nixon.

The Mountaineers added to their lead in the second half, outscoring the Terriers 27-14 over the first 12 minutes of the second half, and Appalachian State put Wofford down by 21 points after a jumpshot by Hall with 6:53 left in the game, 71-49.

The duo of Lenzly and Nixon managed only two points in the second half.

Lenzly burned Appalachian State in last season’s meeting, scoring 29 points en route to a Wofford 86-65 win in Spartanburg, S.C.

But guard Jonathan Butler made sure the 6-foot-3-inch junior didn’t have a repeat performance.

“Our team did a good job of guarding Nixon and Lenzly,” said Appalachian State head coach Houston Fancher. “We knew they were capable of going on big runs. We gave Butler a chance to atone for what Lenzly did last year and I thought he held his own.”

“Their guards can really shoot so we tried to limit them to one shot,” said Mountaineer forward Josh Shehan. “We knew their post players weren’t gonna hurt us so we keyed in on their guards.”

And while the Mountaineers concentrated on stopping Wofford’s backcourt, they left the scoring to Hall.

“He was really productive tonight and made some nice shots. When he takes good shots, he’s a real good shooter,” said Fancher.

The decision to play Hall came more from the desire to mix it up a little more offensively.

“Just looking for a change,” said Fancher. “We’ve been looking for a little more offensive production.”

With Virginia Military Institute’s loss to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Monday night, the Mountaineers and the Keydets have an even 4-9 conference record. The tiebreaker, however, goes to VMI, who swept Appalachian State this season.

The Mountaineers face division rival Davidson College this Saturday at 7 p.m. at Davidson in a rematch of the SoCon North Division’s first- and last-place teams.

The Mountaineers lost to the Wildcats 82-72 on Feb. 2 in Boone, but Hall expects to avenge the defeat.

“It’s a big game,” said Hall. “They came in here and stole something from us so we’re looking to go in there and take it back.”