'Cats don't need Curry

Davidson didn't have Stephen Curry for much of last night's game, but had more than enough defense as well as other scorers to compensate.

The Wildcats rolled past Appalachian State 70-52.

Curry, the nation's top scorer, was in foul trouble from the early stages and played 18 minutes, which matched a career low. He still managed to score 16 points, but it was his teammates that picked up the slack.

"I thought we played our best basketball of the season," Coach Bob McKillop of the Wildcats said.

Will Archambault, Max Paulhus Gosselin and Brendan McKillop combined for 41 points and hit eight 3-point field goals for the Wildcats, who improved to 12-3 and extended their Southern Conference winning streak to 35 games.

The Wildcats played solid defense, squelching any chance of a run by the Mountaineers in front of a crowd with a turnstile count of 8,350 -- the largest in Holmes Center history.

"Our defense has been long overlooked, I think," Bob McKillop said. "Last year on our Elite Eight run a lot of people commented to me about how underrated our defense is and how important that it was to our success.

"We as a coaching staff never assume we're going to outscore anybody. We take great pride in our defense."

The Mountaineers (6-7 overall, 3-2 SoCon) hit 4 of 18 3-point attempts (22 percent) and turned the ball over 17 times.

"We weren't productive," Coach Houston Fancher of the Mountaineers said. "Playing a team like that, you've got to score with them….

"We just didn't produce. And we had looks. Donald Sims is one of the best 3-point shooters in this league and he's wide open four times and doesn't knock it down. We go to the free-throw line and leave eight points -- we're 8 of 16 from the free-throw line. We gave them 21 more field-goal opportunities than we had and that's based on two things -- offensive rebounds and our turnovers.

"You look at the efficiency of them -- 17 assists and nine turnovers -- and us with eight assists and 17 turnovers. That tells the big story on the outcome of the game."

Sims was 0 of 5 from long range and didn't score. And big center Ike Butts had two field-goal attempts in the first 33:30.

Kellen Brand, a junior guard, carried much of the load -- scoring a game-high 21 points.

But he lamented the fact that the Wildcats were 11 of 28 from 3-point range, largely without Curry.

"I take a lot of pride on defense," Brand said. "I got lost a couple of times. It's frustrating."

Butts, who wound up with 10 points along with Ryann Abraham, said: "We had an opportunity (with Curry on the bench). We let one slip away. We didn't capitalize."

The Wildcats began to pull away by opening the second half with an 11-3 run, but the Mountaineers' big chance came with 15:11 still to play when Curry picked up his fourth foul.

Soon after, the Mountaineers went four minutes without a point.

Curry returned with 5:42 left, and followed back-to-back 3-pointers by Archambault with two long-range shots of his own.

"That's got to diffuse any attempt of a comeback," Bob McKillop said.

Curry said he was glad to see his teammates built a lead of 16 points without him.

"They did great," said Curry, who entered last night averaging 29.6 points a game. "Max hit some 3s that kept us in it. Our big men really stepped up … and Brendan McKillop really stepped up.

"Our defense was great. We really want to take their guards away, take away their open 3s."

Paulhus Gosselin, previously 1 of 11 on 3-point attempts, hit 3 of 4 last night. He said that managing without Curry was important.

"It was important for our team's confidence and each one of us individually, to take over the role of a key scorer and a key defender," he said.

Davidson led 33-30 after a strange first half.

Curry, who was saddled with two fouls in the early stages, played eight minutes in the half. But the Mountaineers didn't really take advantage -- going more than seven minutes without a point during one span.

Brand was the catalyst for the Mountaineers in trimming a 12-point lead by the Wildcats to three before halftime. He scored eight points in the final 3:20 of the half, and had 19 of the Mountaineers' 39 at one point.

With Curry on the bench, the Mountaineers went 1 of 8, had six turnovers and four points until Abraham finally broke the drought with 9:51 left in the half.

■ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.

DAVIDSON -- Rossiter 0-4 0-0 0, Lovedale 3-12 0-0 6, Paulhus Gosselin 5-9 1-2 14, Barr 3-5 0-0 7, Curry 7-13 0-0 16, McKillop 5-10 0-0 13, Civi 0-0 0-0 0, Reigel 0-1 0-0 0, Archambault 6-10 0-1 14, Atkinson 0-0 0-0 0, Ben-Eze 0-0 0-0 0, Nelms 0-0 0-0 0, Allison 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 1-3 70.

APPALACHIAN -- Hunter 1-1 0-2 2, Butts 4-4 2-2 10, Abraham 3-12 2-2 10, Bermudez 1-4 0-4 2, Brand 8-12 4-6 21, Sims 0-6 0-0 0, Hughes 1-2 0-0 3, Booth 1-1 0-0 2, Wright 1-1 0-0 2, Webb 0-1 0-0 0, Williamson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-44 8-16 52.

Halftime--Davidson 33-30. 3-Point Goals--Davidson 11-28 (Paulhus Gosselin 3-4, McKillop 3-6, Archambault 2-5, Curry 2-8, Barr 1-3, Allison 0-1, Reigel 0-1), ASU 4-18 (Abraham 2-6, Hughes 1-1, Brand 1-3, Webb 0-1, Bermudez 0-2, Sims 0-5). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Davidson 35 (Paulhus Gosselin 6), ASU 32 (Bermudez, Butts 6). Assists--Davidson 17 (Curry 6), ASU 8 (Sims 3). Total Fouls--Davidson 19, ASU 11. A--8,350.