Mountaineers sweep SoCon

James Nix - Sports Beat

For the first time in history, the Appalachian State University track team came home with both the men’s and women’s titles after traveling to the Southern Conference Indoor Championships in Johnson City, Tenn., this weekend.

For the women, the title is not anything new. They defended their 2001 crown and picked up their ninth championship with 139 points.

Western Carolina finished second in the women’s meet with 111 points. Chattanooga was third with 96 followed by Georgia Southern University (69), East Tennessee State University (52), UNC Greensboro (17), Furman University (7), Virginia Military Institute (3) and Davidson College (2).

On the other hand, the men went into the meet with the taste of blood on their tongue.

After losing in 2001 to rival Western Carolina University, Appalachian entered the meet with its most balanced squad ever. The men scored 138 points en route to their 12th title.

“Last year we had bad performances from some of our key athletes,” said coach John Weaver. “Those performers stepped us this year and gave us some good points to get us going.”

WCU was also the runner-up in the men’s competition with 100 points. VMI pulled out third with 86, followed by Chattanooga (69), ETSU (53), The Citadel (28), Davidson (17) and UNCG (3).

The team championships weren’t the only awards that came home after the weekend. Jennifer Claud received the Freshman of the Year award for her outstanding performance in the 55- and 200-meter dash.

“Jennifer is just one of the many outstanding freshman we have on our team. We have a young team and everyone stepped up nicely,” said Weaver.

LaShanna Poole won The Most Outstanding Field-Performer for her work this year.

Poole also broke her own Southern Conference record set a year ago in the women’s 20-lbs. weight throw, with a distance of 17.15 meters.

The coaches were also winners this weekend. Coach Weaver received the Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by the conference coaches.

The plaque represents the effort put forth by the entire coaching staff.
Weaver said that it’s customary to include all of his assistants on the nameplate next to his.

“I do my share with my part of the coaching; the other coaches have just as important of a job as I do,” said Weaver. “The award is nice, but the thing that’s really important is for the team to win.”

The outdoor season begins on Tuesday for the track team. The first meet will be the weekend of March 15-17.

Josh Brown - The Appalachian

ASU forward Nate Carson (right) and guard Chris McFarland apply pressure to East Tennessee State player Michael Tolliver in the early minutes of Saturday’s ASU loss.

ETSU holds off Mountaineers in regular season finale

James Nix - Sports Beat

Plagued by a barrage of first-half turnovers, the Appalachian State University men’s basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a 79-72 loss to East Tennessee State University Saturday in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center.

The Mountaineers turned the ball over 17 times in the opening frame, giving the Bucs an advantage and then battled back only to fall short in the final minutes.

“Another comeback fallen short,” said head coach Houston Fancher.
“We always seem to be putting ourselves in the position to have to make comebacks now.”

Appalachian turned the ball over 9 times after the half, bringing their total to 26 giveaways in the SoCon loss.

“Turning the ball over 17 times in the first half is almost impossible to recover from,” said Fancher.

Despite the turnovers, Appalachian kept the score close for the majority of the first half. ETSU never built a solid lead until around the six-minute mark. The game was tied four times before that.

The Bucs used a 9-0 run late in the first half to help them gain a 45-32 lead before halftime.

ETSU guard Zakee Wadood was a major factor for the Bucs in the first half, scoring 17 points. Also, Jerald Fields scored 12 for the Bucs, while only junior guard Shawn Hall reached double-digit status for the Mountaineers.

For most of the second half, Appalachian struggled to close ETSU’s lead with little success. The Bucs held at least a 10-point lead until the five-minute mark. That’s when Appalachian made its run.

The Mountaineers made it a six-point game with two minutes remaining.

ETSU constantly hit its free throws as Appalachian fouled to stop the clock.

The closest Appalachian would get was five points with 30 seconds left.

Hall led Appalachian in scoring with 22 points. Junior forward Nate Carson also hit double digits with 15 points.

Wadood led the Bucs in scoring with 23 points. He was followed by guard Dimeco Childress with 17 and Fields with 15.

The Mountaineers shot evenly in both halves, shooting 36 percent in the first and 37.8 percent in the second. The Bucs, however, shot 58.6 percent in the first half and 40.7 percent in the second.

Forty-six of ETSU’s points came from inside the paint. This would make it seem as if the Bucs powered the ball inside. That was not the case, however.

“Their points in the paint include run-up layups too,” said Fancher.
“Where they’re catching the ball and shooting layups off of our turnovers.”

Now, with the regular season over, Appalachian must look towards the SoCon Tournament, which begins Thursday in Charleston.

“We have to regroup and go down to Charleston and start a whole new season,” said Hall. “We’re not going to let this get us down.”

With the loss, the Mountaineers end their season with a 10-17 overall record and a 5-11 record in the Southern Conference.

The Virginia Military Institute defeated Davidson College on Saturday. The win bumped the Keydets past Appalachian in the SoCon North standings.

The Mountaineers will go into the SoCon tournament on Thursday as the sixth seed in the north and play the number three seed in the South Division, the College of Charleston.

If Appalachian makes it past the first round it will once again meet ETSU.

The win against Appalachian marked the Bucs’ eighth straight win.
With this streak they are possibly a favorite going into the tournament.

“They are one of the teams to take into consideration,” said Fancher.

Fancher, however, feels that his team has ended its season with some of the top teams, which will help while preparing for the tournament.

“We’ve played the last three games against, in my opinion, the three best teams in the league,” said Fancher. “They’re the toughest teams we’ll see in the tournament, so we’re prepped.”