By David Rogers. ASHVILLE, N.C. — Winning NCAA Division I basketball games is challenging enough — especially when you dig a 19-2 hole to start a matchup with a team that has gone to the NCAA Championship Tournament as recently as two years ago. Once App State gathered itself on Nov. 30, it played pretty even with UNC Asheville but could never quite overcome that opening, 17-point deficit before losing, 67-55.
While the Mountaineers scored more points off of turnovers than the Bulldogs (11-9) and got decisively more scoring from their bench (26-4), this game was largely won in the trenches, inside the paint. Asheville finished with a 28-24 advantage in points scored inside and, thanks largely to 36-25 margin in rebounding, held a 13-8 advantage in second chance points.
App State had few answers for Asheville forward Toyaz Solomon, a fifth year senior originally from Enfield, N.C., a small farming community east of I-95, north of Rocky Mount. The-6-9 forward scored a game-high 25 points while also pulling down 8 rebounds. Game-high honors in clearing the boards went to Bulldog guard Kameron Taylor, with 10 rebounds and 12 points to record the only double-double of the afternoon.
At one point late in the first half, the Mountaineers went on a run and closed to within two points of the Bulldogs, 23-21, but then let the game slip away again. By intermission, it was a 7-point deficit. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, the lead was back to 14 and App State was getting desperate for possession and opportunities to score.
Toward the end, the disparity in foul shots got inflated as the Mountaineers were fouling in an effort to get the ball back, but the UNC Asheville players sent to the charity stripe kept making them, good on 22-of-27 foul shots (81.5 percent), compared to App State’s success on only 7-of-15 foul shots (46.7 percent).
“We got off to a really bad start and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but that’s on me,” said Mountaineer head coach Dustin Kerns after the game. “After that we settled in and did some good things but in the second half we simply couldn’t keep them off the free throw line, where they made 22 of 25 free throws for the game. Where we might have gotten a stop, we weren’t rebounding… We have to do better and it starts with me.”
Speaking of his expectations coming into the game, Kerns was candid.
“I expected us to get off to a better start than being down 19-2 in the first eight minutes,” he said. “I knew we were playing a good team, a team that was 0-2 in their last two games so their backs were against the wall and they came out ready to go.”
The Mountaineers now turn their attention to a Wednesday, Dec. 3, matchup with the University of Virginia-Lynchburg Dragons. It will be the team’s last home game in the early portion of its nonconference schedule. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will also be broadcast on ESPN+.
