BOONE, N.C. - Though Wednesday night's game saw 12 lead changes and eight ties in the first 30 minutes, Appalachian State University men's basketball took over the final 10 to defeat Elon, 89-65, in front of 2,301 fans at the Holmes Center.

Trailing by three points at halftime, the Phoenix (3-13, 1-4 SoCon) rallied to tie the game four different times in the next nine minutes, but were unable to take more than a one-point second-half lead.

Once Devan Carter scored a lay-up pull the visitors within 59-57 with eight minutes to play, Ryann Abraham led the Mountaineers (9-7, 3-2) on a 24-6 run over the next six minutes to put the game out of reach.

The senior scored five of ASU's next seven points and Kellen Brand added seven of his own as the squad pushed the advantage to 20 points.

Abraham and Brand each matched season highs with 12 and 20 points, respectively, while keeping the team's turnovers limited to a season-low seven.

Brand was 6-of-12 from the field and drained 7-of-8 free throws to accompany five rebounds and four assists. Abraham sank all three field goal attempts and added two steals and an assist in 19 minutes off the bench.

Josh Hunter provided an offensive spark early in the game with eight first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting. All three of his rebounds came at the offensive end of the floor as ASU scored 11 second-chance points to Elon's 0 in the game. Hunter finished with 11 points, four assists and a block in the contest.

The Mountaineers totaled 40 rebounds to Elon's 24 and held the Phoenix to just three offensive boards on 33 misses. EU shot 43.6 percent from the floor but made just 6-of-24 treys.

ASU finished with a 51.9 field goal percentage and made 7-of-17 from beyond the arc. Three of the treys came from Southern Conference Player of the Week Donald Sims, who regularly fought double teams after his 44-point outburst at Davidson on Saturday.

Sims sank just 2-of-9 attempts before halftime but finished with 16 points for the game to accompany four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

Elon's Adam Contantine grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and all three of Elon's blocks while Drew Spradlin scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Jeremi Booth and Isaac Butts tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while Andre Williamson added five off the bench. Williamson scored 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and 5-of-7 free throws. The sophomore added two of Appalachian's 16 assists.

The Mountaineers host UNC Greensboro on  Saturday at 3 p.m.