BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball capitalized on a fast start and never let up against the Elon Phoenix on Thursday night in a 76-52 win in the first of three home Southern Conference contests over a five-day span. Kellen Brand led the Mountaineers with 17 points as the team pulled in 18 more rebounds than the visitors.

Brand knocked down 5-of-8 shots in the game, including 4-of-5 from downtown. He was second on the team with six rebounds, behind only Josh Hunter's nine.

After missing the first three attempts of the game, the Mountaineers (6-5, 3-0 SoCon) hit 10-of-16, including 4-of-5 by Ryann Abraham to build a 24-15 lead over the first 13 minutes of the contest. Abraham shot 5-for-7 in the game for 14 points to go along with three assists and a steal.

The Phoenix (4-7, 1-2) battled back to cut the deficit to five points at 29-24 with under five minutes to play, behind six first-half points from Ola Atoyebi. With the ASU lead at eight points as time ran down, Abraham sank a long three-pointer at the buzzer to extend the lead to 38-27 at the half.

It was the fourth time this season and third time in four games that the Mountaineers held the opposition under 30 points in the opening stanza.

An 18-7 run punctuated by a Donald Sims trey from the corner and nine points from Eduardo Bermudez opened the lead to 22 points at 56-34 after the intermission.

Bremudez wrapped up the game with 13 points and four rebounds. He and Sims were two of the four players to dish out a team-high three assists in the contest. Sims scored seven points on 2-of-4 shooting off the bench.

From there, Appalachian cruised to a 76-52 win after extending the advantage to as many as 26 points.

The team's 10 three-pointers were the second-most of the season behind 15 against Milligan, and the .667 three-point percentage was easily the highest of the year for the Apps.

The Apps held a 39-21 advantage on the boards in the game to help extend the team's SoCon-best rebound margin to +9.3 per game. Elon's Atoyebi and Brett James averaged 29.3 combined points coming into the game but were held to 12 combined points in the game, as TJ Douglas led the Phoenix with 10 points off the bench.

The Mountaineers return to the court on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. to face UNC Greensboro as the second half of a double-header with the women's basketball team.