Mountaineers outrun Queens, 93-81

By David Rogers. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If Appalachian State men’s basketball head coach Dustin Kerns wanted an early season, up-tempo test in a hostile environment, he got it on Dec. 13 in Curry Arena at Queens University.

Even though Queens is only in its second season as an NCAA Division I contender, no one should take them lightly. The Mountaineers prevailed in the high-scoring affair, 93-81, but it was not without moments of angst for the visitors from the High Country.

To call Curry Arena a hostile environment is actually misleading, at least for this game. A near capacity crowd was on hand to watch the non-conference action (announced attendance: 1,534), with an estimated 70 percent of the folks supporting App State. As the all too familiar chant of APP—STATE…APP—STATE…APP—STATE rang through the rafters, it is probably more accurate to call it an “unfamiliar” setting for the Mountaineers, rather than hostile.

Kerns was certainly appreciative of the Mountaineer fan support following the game.

“I want to tell you… this is a tough place to play. I want to commend all of the App State people. It really helped us,” he said in opening his post game thoughts about the team’s opportunity to play in Curry Arena, where the Royals had not lost a Division I home game in the past two seasons. “This was a packed house and an opportunity for us to go on the road and get a win in a hostile environment.”

Kerns noted that Queens plays a different style than the Mountaineers are used to seeing.

“(Queens) is a good program and well-coached. (Their style) is hard to play against. I am really proud of our guys,” said Kerns. “One of the strengths of this team is that it is somebody different each night. Tonight, it was C J Huntley, who had a career night. We got off to an incredible start. They punched back. We punched back. They punched back… Queens can get hot and they did. I’m just really proud of our guys for responding.”

The Mountaineers seemed to be the much better team in the early going, at both ends of the court, jumping out to a 17-2 lead. They got scoring contributions from all five starters and the points came in different ways during that initial run. There were fastbreak layups from Tre’Von Spillers and Justin Abson as well as 3-pointers from Terence Harcum, Abson, and Christopher Mantis. C J Huntley even added a couple of free throws.

But then the Royals got the wheels firmly attached to their regal carriage, eventually tying the game at 25-25. That turned out to be the closest Queens got to a lead in this contest, but they had made their statement: they were not going to tuck tail and run softly away into the night. Queens’ 20-8 run over eight minutes of the first half to tie the game at 25 said as much.

It was, in fact, a highly entertaining game. If the outcome was decided only by 3-point shots, the Royals would have won, 33-27.

But on layups, shorter-range jumpers and dunks, App State was dominant, including almost half (46) of the visitors’ 93 total points from inside the paint. The Mountaineers clearly had a deeper bench, with 36 points coming from non-starters in the floor rotation compared to just seven points from the Queens bench players. App State’s pesky defense also showed up, stat-wise, with a 15-4 advantage in points scored off of forced turnovers. Offensive rebounding also tilted things App State’s way, with a 20-4 advantage in second chance points.

Now 8-2 on the season, the Mountaineers stay on the road Saturday, Dec. 16, facing another in-state opponent, Gardner-Webb, at a neutral site in Greensboro’s Novant Health Fieldhouse, 4 p.m.

KEY PERFORMERS

• APP – Donovan Gregory: 22 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 3 steals
• APP – C J Huntley: 22 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block
• APP – Tre’Von Spillers: 16 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals
• APP – Justin Abson: 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
• APP – Myles Tate: 5 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steak
• QUC – Deyton Albury: 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
• QUC – AJ McKee: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
• QUC – BJ McLaurin: 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

TEAM COMPARISONS