Davidson 68 ASU 55

Appalachian State is wearing their brand new solid yellow uniforms. They didn't bring them the best luck against Niagara. The crowd is still filing in here in Belk Arena. We've got all of our resident videographers here tonight...Austin Bell, Wells Black...the NY Times is in the house.

And the white towels are waving as the Wildcats take the court. We have complained a lot about "low" weekday attendance this year...but I swear that this is the biggest crowd before tip for a Senior Day game that I have seen in my four years. We're improving.

They will introduce the senior cheerleaders and Boris, Thomas and J-Rich here in a second. The game-day program featured a four-page feature on the seniors where they interviewed each other about every topic under the sun. I will be sure to get the full text of it up on the blog a little later.
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16:10 D 4 A 3
Wildcats lose track of the shot clock and Max airballs Davidson's first shot, but then Minter shows his colors and is once again unable to deal with the double team. He had a lot of trouble with that the first time in Boone. Jason scores Davidson's first point by staying with the play and putting back the trash bucket. Thomas does the same a minute later. ASU having trouble with Davidson's double team.

And these refs might not want to blow their whistles at all tonight. Thomas was absolutely murdered underneath and all the players stopped for the whistle...but it never came. Fancher was pretty surprised...the fans were mad.
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13:20 D 10 A 3
First media timeout and Meno remains in the ballgame, despite having mishandled his first touch of the game. In case anyone forgot, Jeremy Clayton is not a shooter. Kellen Brand is holding Stephen all over the place and the fans in this corner don't like it. They finally get Brand for it, but no one on Davidson's squad wants to shoot it. Jason does. For three! ASU subs out Brand and puts Ryann Abraham on Curry...it doesn't work. Curry for three!
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11:53 D 12 A 5
Another inbounds turnover for a Davidson opponent. Max forces them to throw it in the backcourt and Steve picks it up. J-Rich short on the three but he turns around to get a steal and finishes with the layup. Wildcats finally with a little energy here.
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10:21 D 18 A 10
Curry gets it going with two straight threes off some nifty passes around the perimeter. Curry with nine so far and Jason with 7. ASU not finding too much success inside, outside of one Minter put-back. Davidson's double team forces horrible first shots but sometimes there's another forward with good rebounding position.
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7:23 D 22 A 16
The refs are letting them play tonight. Lots of physicality on both ends. Not sure that it's been called uneven so far...but guys are getting killed without recourse. Minter with his third paint basket, but J-Rich gets to the line and now has 9 points. Richards again to the hoop. He's going off again, but it's because they can't stop his penetration. Kellen Brand gets crushed by Bryant Barr going for a loose ball...they let them play for a while and Fancher goes nuts. Barr looked pretty bad on two three-point attempts.
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4:10 D 27 A 17
Barr makes up for it by hitting a nice teardrop off the drive. In "moments you don't see everyday," Andrew Lovedale takes a charge. Thomas says, "hey wait a minute," and takes a charge on the very next posession. Davidson is trying to go tit-for-tat with ASU's physicalness and now they are getting called for it. That's starting to suck a little. No one in big foul trouble yet. Davidson has had some nice looking shots rim out right in front of me. Jason breaks the scoring drought with a nice three. He's got 14.
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2:26 D 32 A 17
So apparently Dcats.com was down. It's up for me right now. Calm down everyone.

Will Archambault with a nice three. And almost gets another one. The form looks good. Curry's been quiet lately...but he finds a cutting Archambault and Fancher calls a quick TO. ASU is forcing shots instead of getting it to Minter. Davidson's hot right now.
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Half D 34 A 25
Ooooh...and Archambault with a great drive...hit #1: gets called for the charge...hit #2: he went down hard on his right elbow. Yikes. Updates to come. ASU going on a little mini-run now with another O foul on Davidson. Wildcats need to lead by more than 10 at the break. It's nine now. 7 now. Wildcats tip it in at the buzzer as they fought for the rebound for 6 seconds in the air. What an athletic play and a little mo to cut their run.

To answer a question from anonymous...when I say "take a charge" I mean draws the offensive foul on the opposition. I will try to say "charge" or "called for charging" if it's on us. Andrew and Thomas "took charges," while Will "charged." Hope that clears things up.

Jason Richards with 14 first-half points and three assists. Steph is stuck at nine while Boris and Steve are scoreless. The Wildcats do have a huge edge on offensive rebounds, however, 8-1 (good for a 9-2 advantage in second chance points). Davidson is shooting 38% from the field while App is at 45%...neither team has gotten to the line much.
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17:50 D 38 A 33
Boris Meno drives from the top of the key and hits a J-Rich like jumper off the glass.

MPG now following a fast break...Bermudez loses the ball and stops in front of him...Max barrels into him like a car screeching on the interstate and is called for an intentional foul. The students are all over the refs for that one. They are beginning to be a little annoying. ASU should be called for that "two hands" thing on every possession. Minter hits and we have a close game.
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17:10 D 40 A 33
Lovedale now picks up his third foul away from the ball and that's another questionable call. McKillop wants a summit meeting but they won't talk to him.

Curry hasn't gotten going in a good long time. Jason has felt that and taken over quite nicely. I can't wait to see what happens when teams cover Jason for his drives and his threes and have to cover Stephen and maybe need to double team Andrew or Thomas...so far, they are only on the shut-down Steph phase.
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16:18 D 42 A 33
I love this inbounds defense...it's almost funny. Steph gets the steal on that one after ASU has to throw it to halfcourt. Steph played wide receiver and went up and Lynn Swann-ed it.

The refs heard McKillop and evened it up quick. Not that they called bad fouls on App...but they blew the whistle quick. And again. Fancher knew it was coming sooner or later.
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15:20 D 46 A 33
Davidson now on a 10-0 run over the last two minutes after Jason Richards tabs his 18th point. Willie Archer back in and we'll see if he can get going as well.
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14:23 D 46 A 35
Curry is very cold right now though. He missed two jumpers on that last one and Minter is beginning to eat the Wildcats up inside. He's got 13 points and is on the line after Rossiter fouled him before the media timeout. Minter is hip to the double team and he's making moves quicker before it can come. Davidson can't handle him one-on-one.

Will seems to be fine after landing on his elbow earlier. He shoots his first shot which is way short...but I don't think that was an injury thing.
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12:10 D 46 A 41
Minter is eating Davidson alive. The double isn't coming and Rossiter can't take him one-on-one. Davidson is ice cold. This is getting scary. At least the fans know it and are screaming loud. They are discovering for the first time this year that we could lose in here. Scary, ain't it?
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11:06 D 48 A 43
ASU on a 10-2 run. And Curry hasn't scored in nearly 20 minutes of game-time. The crowd falling asleep again, though. Davidson hasn't lost a night, conference game in Belk Arena in six years. Now that's a streak.
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9:11 D 50 A 43
Jason now with twenty. Here is the negative right now: ASU is eating Davidson alive inside. The positive: unlike last year, Davidson isn't panicking with the three point shot. They are shooting twos.

Curry is something like 3-14 right now...his decisions aren't bad. But he just looks very human when the ball hits the rim.
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7:57 D 53 A 45
Thomas loses his man chasing screens and what not and Davis Bowne is wide open. Max comes over and whacks him for the and-1 attempt. He misses and Clayton whacks Thomas on the rebound. This thing is physical, physical....

And Curry is back. NBA three and the crowd is on its feet. BOOM BOOM BOOM...out on App State, and the dagger has been thrust. Sweet Caroline keeps the mo going.


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5:00 D 64 A 47
Three from Steph. Steal and finish from Richards. And the white towels are out. ASU might not be able to withstand this now that Curry is back. Richards has 24 points, a new season high.

Max forces yet another steal off an in-bounds. I just told our SID that if I get my hands on some tapes, I will work up a stat for steals off inbounds in the last month. I'm sure it's something outrageous.

Davidson students get the wave going. But it died in the Pines section. Ouch. That's harsh. I'm sorry (but it's true...).
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1:50 D 66 A 53
Steve Rossiter slips the screen to get his sixth point of the night and Minter walks out of bounds on a loose ball. App is really bad. Another charge drawn by Curry...several for him tonight. Wildcats haven't landed a knockout punch yet. But they are sparring until the time runs out. App certainly is landing anything.

I like not having Jeremy Clayton slam the ball down our throats. It feels good to win this one after last year.

Students with a "Let's go Seniors..." as all three are still on the court.
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Final D 68 A 55
And they announce a sell-out crowd...5,838...and a standing O for the seniors. It's a great day to be a Wildcat...and a senior. It's been a fun four years.