SoCon Fans

Pacific 64, Appalachian State 56

The road to the CIT championship game has been a long and literal one for the Pacific Tigers. They certainly don’t mind the fact that their journey has had its share of detours and inconveniences, because the regular-season co-champions of the Big West Conference have not been denied a chance to claim some hardware in college basketball’s postseason.

Coach Bob Thomason’s team was originally scheduled to play the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Wednesday night; at the same time that the CIT’s other semifinal was contested. While Creighton and Missouri State squared off for one spot in the finals, Pacific and Appy State were supposed to lock horns as well, creating an equal-rest situation and a level playing field in advance of next Tuesday’s championship showdown. However, Pacific’s team ran into a number of delays in its travel schedule, forcing this event to be moved back one day, in conflict with the Sweet 16 regional semifinals. On Wednesday, this game had a chance to be noticed by much of the college basketball world. On Thursday, it didn’t enter the radar screen of anyone beyond the realm of local writers, parents and girlfriends.

No matter, though: Pacific produced a task-specific success story at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, N.C., winning its third consecutive road game in the CIT and advancing to play Missouri State on March 30.

The Tigers – despite all the travel delays that snarled them over the previous 72 hours – actually looked quite fresh in the first half against coach Buzz Peterson’s ASU crew, which won the North Division in the regular-season Southern Conference standings. Pacific bolted to a 38-19 halftime lead by throwing down some big-league defense. More specifically, the visitors from Stockton, Calif., were able to use a wise tactic in basketball circles: They allowed one meal-ticket scorer to have his numbers, while clamping down on every other Mountaineer performer.

Appalachian State’s Donald Sims scored 22 points on the evening and shot a respectable 6 of 14 (43 percent) from the field. However, the other four ASU starters hit just 7 of 28 shots, a horrendous 25-percent clip. All told, the non-Sims players on the Mountaineer roster hit just 13 of 43 shots, a 30-percent conversion rate. Yes, Pacific didn’t set the night on fire in the Carolinas, as the Tigers drained only 39 percent of their looks, but with defense and more defense, the visitors from California outpaced their opponent. Pacific hit only 4 of 21 3-pointers and missed a whopping nine foul shots in just 21 tries, but because ASU made only nine free throws on the evening and proved to be so limited in its ability to score, the U of P was able to forge a working margin and sustain it until the finish line. ASU pulled within five, at 58-53, but a three-minute, 18-second scoring drought cooked the Mountaineers’ goose.

Three road games. Multiple travel delays. A one-day pushback of a scheduled start time. Who cares? The Pacific Tigers, for all their (off the court) traveling adventures, are still standing. One more road win at Missouri State, and they’ll be able to call themselves CIT champions.

What’s Next

While the CBI stages a best-of-three-game championship series, the CIT limits itself to a one-game title tilt. There won’t be any Lions in Springfield, Mo., next Tuesday night, but there will be Tigers and Bears (oh, my!), as Pacific and Missouri State meet for all the marbles in the Show Me State.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer