Strelow: Storm Clears, But Mountaineers Provide "Forever" Moment

By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics

BOONE, N.C. — Entering the Holmes Convocation Center day after day, App State men's basketball coach Dustin Kerns and other members of his staff repeatedly pass the same enlarged photo before turning left toward their offices.
 
It's an image that captures the scene from the first game played in the facility way back in 2000, when a sold-out crowd accompanied North Carolina's house-warming visit to Boone.
 
There was still construction dust visible in back hallways that night with the building ready — just barely — for business. Now, 23 years later, it's finally been broken in properly by an oversized, full-fledged court storming with a power conference opponent in town (Auburn) and a national-television audience (via ESPN2) watching from afar.
 
"I told our team," Kerns said, "that we can make this day live forever."
 
Some office-adjacent redecorating will surely follow in due time.
 
Hosting a program from a Power Five conference in the Holmes Center for just the second time, and playing a nationally televised game there for the first time, the Mountaineers delivered for the sellout crowd in attendance Sunday by winning 69-64 against an Auburn team was just four days removed from improving to 5-1 with a 17-point victory against Virginia Tech. For App State, make it five straight victories with previous wins over UNCW (by 30 over a team that just beat Kentucky), Murray State, Austin Peay and ETSU.
 
There's mutual admiration between Kerns and students who make up the Mountaineer Menace cheering section that rises behind one basket. He often enters the stands to high-five them after an App State win.
 
On Sunday, they came to him, leaving a scene that had turned into the basketball equivalent of football's Miller Hill to quickly fill the floor.
 
"When I got here, I was speaking to the students, and I told them they get one court rush," Kerns said, looking back to his 2019 hiring. "From then on, it's expected."
 
"They got their court rush."
 
The wonderment connected to North Carolina's visit in 2000 quickly gave way to reality as the Tar Heels led by 25 points at halftime. Steph Curry's final trip to Boone with Davidson in 2009 also drew a sellout crowd, but that being a conference game contributed to some sense of normalcy, and diehard App State fans can recall the drama from a 103-100, triple-overtime win against in-state foe Charlotte triggering a court storm in 2002.
 
As soon as Auburn's team jogged onto the court or high-profile head coach Bruce Pearl appeared during pregame warmups Sunday, they were immediately greeted with loud boos. The Tigers threatened to quickly take the crowd out of the game, running out to a 17-8 lead with a pair of transition jumpers and a fastbreak layup that occurred after App State missed a contested layup early in the shot clock.
 
Kerns prefers to save timeouts instead of using one to halt a first-half run, but this was a critical moment to stress the importance of staying in character and learning from a mistake. Shortly thereafter, the Mountaineers used a 10-0 run to claim a 20-19 lead, and App State never trailed again after freshman Jordan Marsh hit a tiebreaking layup with one second left in the first half.
 
There were countless big plays after the break to raise the decibel level inside the Holmes Center, notably one sequence in which Marsh scored in traffic and Terence Harcum drilled a transition 3-pointer after a lunging Tre'Von Spillers had fired a behind-the-back pass to Marsh while securing a steal near the baseline.
 
Pearl had to call a timeout of his own in an attempt to quiet the crowd and slow down the Mountaineers, but the margin increased to double figures and the noise rose to new volumes.
 
"Great environment in here," Pearl said. "Great fan base. They were awesome."
 
With Auburn playing its first road game of the season — credit to Pearl, a one-time Horizon League head coach, for signing off on the game and acknowledging, "It's important that we give teams like (App State) an opportunity" — Kerns said the crowd had the power to lift up the Mountaineers and negatively impact the Tigers.
 
No doubt, Auburn faced the difficult challenge of getting the best shots possible from both App State and the Mountaineers' crowd. At the same time, after pouring out so much by that point, surely there were some of you who looked up, felt like you had emptied the tank, realized there were still 10 minutes remaining on the clock and wondered if you could handle much more heart-racing excitement.
 
When a 60-49 lead had shifted to a tenuous 62-59 advantage, perhaps doubt started to creep in, but veteran Donovan Gregory capped a chaotic sequence by hitting a mid-range jumper to calm some nerves with 1:22 left. Auburn answered with a basket at the other end, setting the stage for the day's defining possession.
 
With App State struggling to dissect Auburn's rangy zone defense and the shot clock dropping under 10 seconds, guard Myles Tate released a step-back 3-point attempt from the left wing. As the ball swished through the net to produce a six-point lead with 33.2 seconds remaining, hope that had evolved into belief took one more step to gleeful anticipation.
 
Moments later, Marsh secured the final rebound and tossed the ball high into the air as fans sprinted onto the court to celebrate a signature win against a program that reached the 2019 Final Four and has appeared in four of the last five NCAA tournaments.

If you took an early picture of the scoreboard to show proof that App State was actually tied with or ahead of an SEC team in Boone, you probably kept taking pictures, because the more time that elapsed, the more that a meaningful story was developing. 
 
"It was electric, like a dream come true," Harcum said. "You want to play in these games. The fact we played in it and won it, it meant everything."
 
Kerns entered the media room afterward, sat down and was prompted to deliver an opening statement.
 
"My opening statement is," Kerns said quietly before smiling and raising his voice with an animated exclamation of, "How 'bout them Mountaineers!"
 
Fans could take time to soak in the scene before tipoff, then at various points throughout the game. Kerns didn't have that luxury, given his focus on the task at hand, but when it was over, he could fully appreciate what had just transpired in Boone. He's been part of noteworthy accomplishments before, namely a run to a 2021 Sun Belt title and an NCAA Tournament appearance, but those milestones happened far away from the High Country.
 
Asked if there were a visual or a moment from Sunday that would stick with him, Kerns pondered the question and paused for a full 18 seconds to compose himself. He finally uttered an affirming "yeah" and paused for six more seconds before sharing a memory that had him fighting back tears.
 
"When I met with (Director of Athletics) Doug Gillin when I was interviewing here," Kerns began, "he asked me, 'How are you going to change the perception of App State Basketball?'
 
"He believed that I was the guy to do it. It's been a lot of work by a lot of people, and I definitely think the perception of App State Basketball has officially changed. I'll remember that court storming for a long time … because I really wanted that moment for our players, and they got it."