NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Jeremy Clayton’s put-back with 2.2 seconds remaining lifted eighth-seeded Appalachian State to a thrilling 66-65 victory over ninth-seeded Wofford in the opening game of the 2006 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday afternoon at North Charleston Coliseum.
With the victory, Appalachian (13-15) advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal versus top-seeded Georgia Southern. Wofford’s season came to a close at 11-18.
Trailing 64-62 with 17 seconds remaining, Wofford’s Byron Fields hit the first of two free throws and missed the second, but teammate Howard Wilkerson corralled the loose ball and laid it in to give the Terriers a 65-64 lead with 11 to play.
Following a timeout, ASU point guard D.J. Thompson drove the length of the floor and put up an off-balanced leaner from the right side of the key. However, Clayton was there to grab the miss on the left block and hit a six-foot fade-away jumper to put the Apps ahead by a point.
Wofford inbounded and advanced the ball to mid-court where Shane Nichols heaved a desperation shot that caromed off the backboard and rimmed out at the buzzer to preserve the Appalachian victory.
After falling behind 31-27 at the half, the Mountaineers opened the second half on a 10-0 run, punctuated by back-to-back three-pointers from D.J. Thompson and Doug McLaughlin-Williams and an alley-oop slam dunk by Jeremy Clayton of an inbounds pass from Thompson to take a 37-31 lead.
Wofford battled back to tie the contest at 50-50 with under nine minutes to play, but the Mountaineers answered once again with a 10-0 run, again highlighted by back-to-back treys from Thompson and McLaughlin-Williams, to extend the lead to 60-50 with 4:31 to go in the ballgame.
However, the Terriers answered once again with a 15-4 spurt over the next 4:20 to take the one point lead with 11 seconds left to play.
Thompson was 4-for-7 from three-point range to lead all scorers with 20 points. Clayton matched a career-high 17 points and added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
Nichols led four Terriers in double-figures with 18 points while Wilkerson chipped in with 16 points and eight boards.
Friday’s quarterfinal between Appalachian and Georgia Southern tips off at noon at North Charleston Coliseum.