Conway, S.C. – Braeden MacVicar, a 6'11" freshman who got his first start of the season, and junior center Jaland Whitehead, who came off the bench early, provided some bright spots for Coastal Carolina, but Appalachian State roared out to a big first half lead and coasted to an easy 70-45 win in a Sun Belt Conference game Thursday night at the HTC Center.
 
MacVicar had six points and Whitehead hit for all eight of his points in the first half. The two big men combined to hit 6-of-12 from the field, but the rest of the team made just 12-of-45 (27 percent), as the Chants slipped to 4-11 overall and 1-3 in the league. Jacob Meyer, a 6'2" freshman guard, led Coastal with 13 points, but he was the only player in double figures.
 
Myles Tate was one of three players in double figures for Appalachian State, which improved to 12-4 and 3-1. The Mountaineers broke a 13-13 tie in the first half with a 19-0 run and never looked back. At one point, their lead was 28 points with less than a minute to play.
 
"They are a very good defensive team, but we didn't help our own cause," said Coastal interim head coach Benny Moss. "We over-dribbled the ball and didn't move it from side to side to beat their defense. Hopefully, we learn the lessons we need to learn from this and do a better job when we play them again next week."
 
Whitehead came off the bench early to help Coastal keep pace with the Mountaineers. He had eight of his team's first 13 points, with the last of his buckets coming from the inside, knotting the score at 13-13 with 7:13 remaining in the first half. From there, however, Appalachian State broke the game open with a 19-0 run, punctuated by three-pointers from Myles Tate and CJ Huntley. MacVicar ended the six-minute scoring drought with a three-pointer to make the score 32-16 at the break.
 
In the end, Whitehead also made his mark with eight rebounds to lead the Chanticleers in that department. And MacVicar led the team in hitting 2-of-5 from beyond the three-point line. They were the only three-pointers that Coastal made on the night, as the rest of the team went 0-of-14.
 
Coastal now has a quick turn-around in order to host Old Dominion at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, in the second game of a double-header. After that, the Chanticleers will be on the road next week for games at Georgia Southern and a return date at Appalachian State.
 
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