Published: 11:33 PM, 11/17/2009

Last updated: 11:46 AM, 11/23/2009

By: Steve Behr Sports Editor

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com
Appalachian State coach Buzz Peterson insisted to his Mountaineers that the ball must be passed to an inside player before an outside shot is taken, unless that shot is wide open. Lees-McRae coach Scott Polsgrove decided to concede Appalachian State's inside game so the Mountaineers' outside shooters would not dominate the Bobcats.
All of that was just fine for Appalachian State's Ike Butts. The 6-foot-10 center scored a career-high 22 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the field, and led the Mountaineers to a 77-44 victory over the Division II Bobcats in front of 1,621 at the Holmes Center Tuesday night.
Lees-McRae chose to guard Butts with 6-8 Josh Kurtz and several post players, none who are taller than 6-6. Butts was able to get the ball just a few feet from the basket and had little trouble scoring.
"That's something we're going to welcome if teams aren't going to respect us down low," Butts said. "We're going to get the ball inside and score as much as possible or kick it out to the guards."
Butts, who also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, did not take a shot from the outside or from the foul line. He added an assist and a steal to his game totals in 21 minutes.
Butts was sidelined with a knee injury at the start of the fall practice season, but returned in time to play last Friday in the Mountaineers' season-opener against UNC Wilmington.
"I want the ball to touch inside. I want a big fella to touch it," Peterson said. "(Butts) has only had four practices before UNCW and one last night, so he hasn't had many practices. We've got to work him in shape and we tried to tonight by giving him over half the minutes."
The Bobcats chose to guard him one-on-one and instead, make sure that guards Donald Sims, Kellen Brand and Ryann Abraham did not burn them from the outside.
The trio's scoring totals suggest that the strategy worked. Brand was the only other Mountaineer in scoring 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field. Sims added seven points and Abraham scored four points, but dished out five assists.
Polsgrove remembered watching the Mountaineers beat Chattanooga 88-82 last season. Sims scored 35 points and shot 9-of-16 from 3-point range. Brand added 18 in that game.
"(Butts) is a good player and their inside players are big and strong, but I felt the strength of their team is Sims and Brand and Abraham," Polsgrove said. "I did not want those guys to get going because I thought it could get out of hand real quick. You have to pick your poison"
Lees-McRae (0-1), playing its season-opener Tuesday, got 16 points from Adam McFerran before he injured his left ankle and had to leave the game with three minutes left in the second half. Sam Youse added 15 points.
The Bobcats stayed with the Mountaineers (2-1), with reason, in the first half. ASU led 28-20 with 8:06 left in the first half, but closed out the half with a 15-6 run and took a 43-26 halftime lead.
The Mountaineers began the second half with a 12-2 run to claim a 55-28 advantage that Lees-McRae could not overcome.
"These games are tough for us physically and mentally and athletically," Polsgrove said. "They're hard for us, but they're also good for us. I've been telling our guys, we played Furman last Friday and we play Wofford on Thursday, we're not going to play anybody any better than these three teams."
Lees-McRae, which lost to Furman 89-43 in an exhibition game last Friday, takes on another Southern Conference team, Wofford, Thursday in Spartanburg, S.C. Appalachian State begins a two-game road trip Friday at Arkansas and then at Louisville next Monday.

Appalachian State 77, Lees-McRae 44
Lees-McRae (0-1)
Haymer 2-8 2-2 6, Kurtz 1-2 0-0 2, Hoots 0-4 0-0 0, Sepokas 0-7 0-0 0, Youse 6-14 0-1 15, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Young 0-3 0-0 0, Helms 0-2 0-0 0, Nikolov 0-0 0-0 0, Hardin 2-4 0-0 5, McFerran 7-10 1-1 16, Scott 0-3 0-0 0, Benjamin 0-0 0-0 0, Henry 0-1 0-2 0.Totals 18-59 3-6 44.
Appalachian State (2-1)
Hunter 3-4 0-2 6, Butts 11-12 0-0 22, Sims 2-5 3-3 7, Abraham 2-7 0-0 4, Brand 3-3 2-3 10, Healy 0-1 0-0 0, Wright 3-4 0-0 7, Booth 2-5 0-0 5, Archer 0-0 0-0 0, Lail 0-1 2-2 2, Highsmith 1-4 0-0 3, Webb 1-2 0-0 2, Nirenberg 2-5 1-2 5, Williamson 1-4 2-6 4. Totals 31-57 10-18 77.
Halftime score-ASU 43, LM 26. 3-point goals-LM 5-25 (Youse 3-8, McFerran 1-2, Hardin 1-3, Haymer 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Helms 0-2, Sepokas 0-2, Hoots 0-3, Young 0-3), ASU 5-18 (Brand 2-2, Wright 1-1, Booth 1-4, Highsmith 1-4, Hunter 0-1, Sims 0-3, Abraham 0-3. Rebounds-LM 30 (McFerran), ASU 44 (Butts 9). Assists-LM 9 (Hoots 4), ASU 21 Abraham 5). Turnovers-LM 19, ASU 16. Total fouls-LM 15, ASU 12. Fouled out-None. Technical fouls-None. A-1,621.

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