Published: 8:54 PM, 02/03/2010

Last updated: 9:00 PM, 02/03/2010

By: Steve Behr Sports Editor

I don't think anybody saw this coming. Appalachian State didn't see it coming. I don't think King College saw it coming.
King College 87, Appalachian State 76.
Ouch! Didn't King College get the memo that it's supposed to pick up a check, take a basketball beating, and then return to Bristol, Tenn., and the life of a decent Division II team?
I know King is 13-4 and I know they recently had a seven-game winning streak snapped, by Lincoln Memorial - the Division II team, not the actually building.
But Appalachian State's loss Monday was just bad on so many levels.
Mountaineers coach Buzz Peterson sounded as frustrated as any coach I've seen occupy that chair at the post-game press conference following the game.
He's frustrated with the lack of effort he's getting. He's frustrated with players making the same mistakes over and over again.
He's frustrated with a lack of leadership, especially from the five seniors on the roster.
"This team has always struggled with what I though idenitiy for senior leadership," Peterson said. "The five seniors don't want to seem to step on anybody's toes or whatever. I've always been a big believer that behind every great team, you need tremendous leaders and right now, this team struggles to have a leader."
Right now, Peterson sounds like he'll settle for  a team that plays hard all the time. He's looking for a frontcourt player who can play with maximum effort without having to be benched as motivation.
He's looking for a point guard to steer a team that got outplayed by a Division II team that didn't have a player on the court taller than 6-foot-6. He's looking for the team that completely outplayed Samford in the first half last Thursday and that beat North Divison leader Western Carolina on Jan. 23.
"Thursday night in the first half might have been our finest 20 minutes of basketball we've played all season," Peterson said. "Then to win at Samford, which is tough, from there within 48 hours to have lackluster effort against Chattanooga and then play like we played today - as a coach you're trying to find the mental part of it."
So was the crowd of 1,807 that, to their credit, mostly stayed the entire game instead of heading to the exits by halftime. They saw an Appalachian State team fall behind by 19 points - 19 points - to a Division II team in the second half.
Not to Duke or North Carolina. Not even to a team from the Southern Conference.
To King College.
To its credit, Appalachian State rallied and even took a one-point lead.
However, the Mountaineers failed to hold on to it, even with 8:16 left in the game.
In the first half, Peterson shuffling players in and out of the game in the first half, looking like he was desperately trying to find somebody who could give the Mountaineers some type of spark.
Ironically, it was Josh Hunter, one of the players Peterson said he benched to send a message, who provided that spark. Hunter scored six points in just three first-half minutes and 22 points overall.
It wasn't nearly enough to overcome King College, who were kings of the court Monday night.
So what's the good news? Well, it's not the end of the season. And to be fair, the Mountaineers played two road games in three days then had to wait any extra day to return to Boone because of bad weather.
But they Mountaineers should still have enough juice or mojo or talent to beat King College. Somewhere, they've got to find that desire to play with effort and skill that is needed to win games.
If they don't, King College won't be the only team sending the Mountaineers home in disappointment.

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