BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball never trailed and led by as many as 19 points en route to defeating Campbell University, 79-66, at the Holmes Center Saturday afternoon. Isaac Butts' dominance in the paint with 14 points and 11 rebounds propelled the Mountaineers to their fourth-straight win over the in-state rival.

Appalachian (2-2) opened up another big lead as a 9-0 run helped the team take an early 12-2 lead four minutes into the game with all nine points being scored by Butts and Eduardo Bermudez, who finished the game with 13 points. The Apps kept Campbell (2-3) at bay for the next four minutes until a 12-0 Mountaineer run gave ASU its biggest lead of the game at 29-10 with six minutes left in the opening half. Campbell's Jonathan Rodriguez scored eight of his game-high 24 points in the final five minutes of the half to trim the margin to 38-24 at the break.

Butts finished the half with 10 points and eight boards, four of them off the offensive glass as ASU's 10 offensive rebounds led to 12 second-chance points for the Mountaineers in opening up the big first-half lead.

The Apps ran their second-half lead out to as many as 16, 49-33, on a three-point play from Ryann Abraham with 13:07 left on the clock before the Camels began to chip away, outscoring the Mountaineers 21-11 over the next seven minutes to pull within six points on a Rodriguez layup. That would be as close as CU would come as ASU ran its lead back out into double-digits to cruise in the final minutes to the 13-point victory as all 11 players that hit the floor scored for ASU. Campbell had four players in double-figures with Jabril Bailey (13), Lorne Merthie (11) and Kyle Vejraska (10) complimenting Rodriguez' afternoon.

ASU endured a somewhat average shooting performance, making 38 percent of its shots, but staged another commanding performance on the glass with 45 rebounds to CU's 34. Additionally, the squad got the free-throw line 23 more times than its opponent with 44 total attempts. 

The win was the Mountaineers' final tune-up before jumping into conference play next week with contests at Furman and Wofford. ASU begins its swing through the Upstate on Wednesday evening at Furman with a 7 p.m. tipoff.