ASHEVILLE – Davidson overcame a 13-point second-half deficit and foul trouble among key starters to defeat Appalachian State, 65-62, in the semifinals of the 2013 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Center. The win sends the Wildcats to their second straight league championship appearance Monday night against College of Charleston.

Monday’s title game airs at 7pm on ESPN2.

Charleston defeated Elon in the second semifinal Sunday night, 68-60.

Appalachian State got off to a fast start against Davidson. The Mountaineers led by as many as 11, 20-9, in the opening 20 minutes, reaching that margin on Nathan Healy’s jumper with 9:48 left in the half. But the Wildcats fought back to finish the half down by just two, 28-26.

Davidson (now 25-7 overall) scored the first points of the second half to tie the game at 28, but Appalachian State (15-16) reeled off 13 unanswered points, to take its largest lead of the contest, 41-28, with 15:03 to go.

Davidson then responded with a 21-6 streak, capped off by De’Mon Brooks’s two-handed dunk to grab its first advantage, 49-47, since it was 3-0 early in the game.

Deadlocked at 51-51 with 5:29 remaining, Davidson got back-to-back triples from JP Kuhlman and Tyler Kalinoski to go up, 57-51. The Mountaineers answered scoring six straight to tie the score, 57-57 with 2:36 to go, but Brooks and Jake Cohen connected on back-to-back layups to put the ‘Cats ahead for good.

The Mountaineers did not quit as Tab Hamilton drilled a three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining and fouled Nik Cochran on the inbounds play. Cochran, who entered the game as the nation’s top free-throw shooter, missed the front end of the 1-and-1, which gave ASU one last chance.

Cohen and Brooks led four double-figure scorers for Davidson with 17 and 16 points, respectively, despite battling foul trouble. Brooks played just three minutes in the first half, and did all of his scoring in the second half, when he played all 20 minutes. Cohen, on the other hand, played only eight minutes in the second half.

Chris Czerapowicz had 10 points and a team-best six rebounds, while Kalinoski went 3-for-6 on three-point attempts and finished with 11 points.

Davidson, which has won 16 straight, shot 58.3 percent after intermission to finish the contest at 49 percent (25-51), including 8-of-19 from long range.

Healy led Appalachian with 14 points and seven rebounds, and nearly tied the game in the final seconds with a 3-ball that bounced off the rim. Jay Canty matched Healy’s seven boards and scored 13 points. Mike Neal also scored 13.

In the second half, Davidson held the Mountaineers to a 42.3 percent shooting clip, and they finished at 50.0 for the game.

by