Jan. 15, 2007

Final Stats

Boone, N.C. - Western Carolina had two players post career nights as freshman Nick Aldridge finished with 31 points and junior transfer Arnold Gore scored 23, but the inside game of Appalachian State proved to be too much as the Mountaineers bounced back from its first Southern Conference loss of the season on Saturday, downing the Catamounts, 100-91, Monday night at the Holmes Center.

Aldridge led three Catamounts in double figures, connecting on 14-of-24 field goal attempts and just missing a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds. Gore with 23 and junior Antonio Russell with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, rounded out the trio of Catamounts in double digits. Russell added five assists, his second-best outing of the season.

Freshman Brandon Giles finished with seven points, six rebounds and a career-best six assists, while his classmate, Jake Robinson, drained his only two field goal attempts, both coming from long-range.

Western (7-10, 4-2 SoCon) trailed by as many as 22 points midway through the second half but never completely went away. The Catamounts chipped away at the deficit, trimming it to 15 on a Gore 3-pointer with 10:29 to play in regulation, but the Apps countered with back-to-back lay-ups to again push out to a 19-point advantage, 79-60. The lead hovered in the upper teens until the final four minutes of the contest. WCU swapped baskets for fouls and took advantage of five missed charity tosses to trim the Appalachian lead to nine, 98-89, on a pair of Giles free throws and a Gore tip-in inside the final minute. However, ASU's Nathan Cranford connected on two free throws to push the Mountaineers to the 100-point mark and the Catamounts ran out of time in the loss.

Appalachian State opened the game red-hot from the floor over the first 20 minutes. The Mountaineers, who cooled over the final five minutes of the half but still managed a sizzling 65.6-percent shooting from the field, scored 38 of their 53 first half points in the paint to lead by 17 at intermission, 53-36. The two teams traded buckets back-and-forth, enduring two lead changes and three ties, before the Appss managed to pull out to a five-point, 15-10, lead five minutes into the contest until a Russell 3-pointer slowed the run with a 3-pointer.

Leading by one, 19-18 at the 12:23 mark, Appalachian embarked on a 16-2 run to pull ahead by 15 at 35-20. The Catamounts missed seven shots from the floor during ASU's four and a half minute run. ASU ballooned the lead to 18 with just over two minutes to play before the break, holding the 17-point, 53-36, advantage at intermission.

Appalachian State (13-4, 5-1 SoCon) had four players reach double figures, with three of those tallying 20-or more. Junior transfer Donte Minter led the way with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, while post Davis Bowne and guard Kellen Brand each scored 20. Rounding out the Apps double-digit scores was Demetrius Scott with 16. Jeremy Clayton scored eight for ASU and led the team with a game-high 12 rebounds.

For the game, Appalachian scorched the Holmes Center nets, shooting a WCU opponent season-best 64.2-percent, which included scoring 62 of its 100 points in the paint. Western managed a 45.3 shooting percentage, including nailing 13-of-17 from 3-point range. The Mountaineers managed a slim advantage on the glass, boarding 38 to WCU's 33.

Western Carolina returns to the court this Saturday in the second-half of a Catamount basketball double-header in Greenville, S.C. against Furman. The Lady Catamounts will face the Lady Paladins at 1:30 pm, with the men scheduled to tip at 4:00 pm against the Paladins at Timmons Arena.