Spartans roar back to stun Mountaineers

UNC Greensboro, once 2-14 this season, played for a chance to take over first place in the Southern Conference's North Division on Thursday night.

The Spartans produced yet another turnaround, rallying from a 17-point deficit to knock off Appalachian State 77-73 in overtime.

It was the fifth straight victory for the Spartans, now 7-14 and 5-4 in SoCon play. And although first place will have to wait because Elon maintained its lead with a victory, the surprising Spartans remained a half-game from the top spot.

Appalachian State tumbled after another near-miss on the road — similar to a two-point loss at North Division foe Chattanooga earlier this season — and fell to 8-11 and 4-5.

For the Spartans and interim coach Wes Miller, it has been a remarkable turnaround.

Miller, 28, became the youngest coach in Division I basketball when he replaced Mike Dement just 11 games into the season.

"The turnaround is easy to explain," Miller said. "It's a resilient group of young men. I can't say it any more simply or honestly than that. We have been through great adversity as a group, and these guys have chosen to deal with adversity. … We have plenty of talent on this team. We have a good enough team to be successful.

"They just had to come together and get a little bit more confident and a little bit better on the defensive end of the floor, and I think they've done that because they've been so resilient."

ASU laid the foundation for what could have been a road-game windfall by rolling to a 30-13 lead in the first half. UNCG had all sorts of problems early — going 6:30 without a point, hitting just three of its first 15 field-goal attempts and getting into early foul trouble.

"I thought we did a good job to begin the game," said coach Jason Capel of ASU. "It's amazing what executing and toughness will do. But you have to maintain that for 40 minutes."

UNCG made inroads with an 11-0 run late in the first half, then took advantage of a second-half drought by ASU. After shooting 52 percent in the first half, the Mountaineers shot 34 percent the rest of the way. In contrast, the Spartans closed at a 50-percent clip.

Derrell Armstrong, who led UNCG with 27 points and eight rebounds, and Trevis Simpson, who scored 24, finished with 60 percent of the Spartans' field-goal attempts. They hit most of them, and the Spartans led by seven points with four minutes left.

But a technical foul on UNCG, when Miller inadvertently sent six players onto the court, and some late misses enabled the Mountaineers to tie by the end of regulation.

Miller said of the too-many-players mistake: "They have a rookie coach. To allow six guys to be on the floor when you have a chance to close out a game is a major, major mistake. I told these guys after the game it would have been really hard to go in there and look them in the eye if we had lost this game after a mistake like that. … These guys had my back tonight."

The Spartans never trailed in overtime. And the Mountaineers had too many deficiencies to overcome.

"We had 20 turnovers, 10 missed free throws and they had 15 offensive rebounds," said Omar Carter, who led Appalachian State with 19 points. "It's kind of tough to win a basketball game with that.

"Not taking anything away from UNCG, but they're not going to beat us on the first shot. But they had second shots. Thirty-five extra possessions is really what they had — their 15 offensive rebounds and our 20 turnovers."

Capel said: "We had our chances. We had our chances in the first half, building a 17-point lead, and we had our chances in the second half if we execute and do the right things.

"We just made more mistakes than they did. That's why they're in the winner's circle."

ASU's Andre Williamson had 13 points and eight rebounds and matched a career best with five blocked shots. Role player Taylor Hoffer was a key for the Spartans down the stretch. He finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.