NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Reserve O'Showen Williams scored a career-high 22 points, Justin Forrest added 19 and fifth-seeded Appalachian State cruised to a 93-64 win over Little Rock in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday.
Griffin Kinney and Ronshad Shabazz added 12 points apiece and Isaac Johnson had 11 with 11 rebounds for the Mountaineers (15-17), who face fourth-seated Texas-Arlington on Friday.
The Mountaineers opened the game with a 12-2 burst and closed the first half with a 9-0 run to lead 46-25. They shot 54 percent, going 7 of 12 from distance, and Williams had 12 points. The Trojans got within 17 with 12 minutes to play but Appalachian State followed with a 10-0 run.
Williams made all three of his 3-pointers and was 6 of 8 from the field. Forrest as also 6 of 8 but made 4 of 5 from distance. Appalachian State shot 56 percent, including 12 of 22 behind the arc.
Little Rock (7-25), which lost the two regular-season meetings by a total of seven points and upset league champion Louisiana in its last game, got 13 points from Jaizec Lottie.
Little Rock Notes
• Little Rock’s 29-point loss to Appalachian State was its second worse of the season after losing to Georgia State by 30 on February 3rd.
• The Trojans are now 0-23 when they score 69 points or fewer.
• Little Rock has lost three straight to Appalachian State yet still maintain a 6-5 edge in the all-time series.
• Ryan Pippins was held to five points in today’s loss, marking the eighth time this season that the Trojans’ leading scorer was held to five points or fewer.
Appalachian State Notes
• O’Showen Williams’s game-high 22 points also set a new career high for the sophomore guard.
• Ronshad Shabazz’s 19 points pushed him to 11th on Appalachian’s all-time scoring list (1,478) as well as fifth in the single-season scoring list (606).
• Ronshad Shabazz’s four made field goals pushed him to 10th in the single-season field goals made list (197).
• Griffin Kinney appearance in today’s game moved him up to sixth in the career games played list (121).
• Appalachian State’s field goal percentage (55.6 percent) was the second highest of the season while their three point percentage (54.5 percent) set a new season high.
Quotes
Appalachain State Head Coach Jim Fox
Opening Statement:
“What a difference a year makes, obviously, very pleased with our guys. I thought we got after it and defended well today. We kept talking to guys about being able to step in an environment like this and they did everything we asked. We really guarded well. We shared the ball, we had 18 assists. The way we can play, when we do that, we’re pretty darn good. Obviously, it’s a good time to put both things together today. I thought we put it together defensively and I thought we really put it together offensively too. I’m very proud of our guys and the way they handled themselves, all year, but especially at this point. We’re really looking forward to another opportunity on Friday.”
On how influential the three-point game was today:
“Obviously, we made some shots, but I thought our ability to get the ball inside and score with Griff (Griffin Kinney) really sets that up. Not on was Griff able to score inside but he was able to find the open man and that led us to some open opportunities. They are a really good defensive team, they really get after you. Obviously, we’ve played them twice already this year. We were able to attack off the bounce because we moved the ball and because we attacked off the bounce it opened up passing lanes and our guys were able to step in and knock them down. The number I like is the 18 assists…and when we guard the way we do, I think we are tough to beat.”
On Little Rock having trouble scoring inside and getting into foul trouble:
“First of all, Wes (Flanigan) does a tremendous job with Little Rock. Obviously, they are young, but they are talented and he does an incredible job of putting them in positions that I think help them and help them score so it’s something we pride ourselves on, being physical without fouling, and I think we did that today. They had some shots that they usually make that they didn’t know down and I think that kind of set the tone and we were able to take that lead into halftime even with the knucklehead play we made at the end of the half, and then we were able to continue that at the beginning of the second half. We hit some tough shots, too, we hit some daggers, but we were dealing with foul trouble also Isaac Johnson, who has been playing 36 minutes, he had 11 and 11 and he only played 23 minutes so Isaac was in foul trouble and sat the whole first half. Justin (Forrest) was in foul trouble so because of that we dealt with some adversity too but I thought our guys came in, stepped up and made some plays.”
Little Rock Head Coach Wes Flanigan
Opening Statement:
Tough loss for us to end our season. I have to take my hat off to Appalachian State, a team that was a lot more physical than us, and out-executed us. They had a great game plan. I thought we got a little frustrated and were a little excited starting the game off, and I thought our offense got us a little frustrated, and we didn’t do a good job on defense because of that.
What is our overview of the season:
It was a tough season and we faced a lot of adversity from an injury standpoint. Just having guys in and out of the lineup all the time, we never could establish a rhythm. From concussions, to groin pulls – I know that people understand that we missed games, but if you think about the time we missed in practice, it’s a whole other deal. We’ve got to get guys stronger in the offseason. Out there tonight, it was a very, very physical game. Appalachian State is one of the more physical teams in our league, and I thought they bothered us around the rim. Their defense is geared to sucking you into the lane, and we got there time and time again and didn’t do a good job of making decisions. I thought at times we had some opportunities, but we just didn’t finish. So we’ve got to do a better job, we’ve got to get stronger and we’ve got to be a better execution team. From an experience standpoint, we had a lot of guys out there that just didn’t have that.
Little Rock Fr., G, Jaizec Lottie
On the first half:
"We have been in situations like that before - down going right into the half. We just try to cut the lead. We try to get a good run into halftime and obviously we couldn't do that, but we just have to come together as a team and get things done"
On what happened after halftime:
"We were trading off points coming out of halftime. Our whole goal was to get some stops on defense and that would help our offense. In the second half I felt like we were scoring, but on the defensive end we weren't getting it done, so we were going back and forth and that is why we couldn't get the lead cut down a little more
Little Rock Jr., F, Oliver Black
On first half not being able to score close:
"Hats off to (Griffin) Kinney. He's a real physical, tough guy. Every time we meet up we always talk about how physical we are with each other and how we always try to go at each other. Congrats to him on that. I would just say they converged on the ball. They had a lot of help side defense and a lot of hot hands. They were just ready"