Athletic News

Healy comes up big for Mountaineers
Hits for career-high in points

www.newbernsj.com
Kevin Travis
December 29, 2010

Nathan Healy traveled a long distance to find his shot, but it was more than worth it to the Appalachian State sophomore.

Healy, a former star at New Bern High School, came up with the biggest scoring game of his college career at the Governor’s Cup tournament in Cancun. The 6-foot-10, 210-pound forward scored a career-high 14 points in a 79-51 loss to East Tennessee State in Friday’s tournament finale. Healy also had a team-high seven rebounds and a team-best three steals in the game.

“It’s always fun to score points,” said Healy, who hit 5 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and 1 of 4 free throws in 31 minutes of action.

“It would have been a lot better if we would have won. The win is the most important thing. If I can get a career-high in points in a win, that would be better.”

His previous high was 13 points in a 76-74 setback to Mississippi State earlier this season.

Healy, the Sun Journal Player of the Year in 2008, said the hot shooting night was something he needed.

“I had been struggling with confidence,” Healy said. “I hadn’t been shooting well. I started to hit some shots in Cancun.

“I hope this is a good sign of things to come and I can help my team that way.”

Healy added six points and a team-best eight rebounds in a 79-68 loss to Texas State in Thursday’s Governor’s Cup.

Though Healy said spending Christmas away from his family wasn’t ideal, being in Cancun helped soften the blow.

“It was a little tough being away from them and I missed them, but we Skyped,” Healy said. “Cancun made it better. The hotel on the beach was the highlight of the trip. The water is clear and it was just really nice. Getting to see another country and another lifestyle was pretty cool.

“When we got back to Boone in the evening, it was about 10 degrees and there was snow. We all wanted to get back on the plane and head back to Cancun.”

While Healy was pleased with his scoring outburst in Cancun, he said that’s not his job on the team. He’s expected to be more of a spark and a banger off the bench.

“I’m really the energy guy,” Healy said. “I’m not a scorer. My job is to get offensive rebounds and stop my guy on defense.

“Any points I score right now is a plus. If they double-team Donald Sims or Omar Carter, my job is to hit the open shot.”

Healy, who is averaging 4.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19.5 minutes a game, is hoping his games in Cancun will become more of a norm.

“I feel like I’ve been inconsistent this season,” said Healy, who has nine assists, eight steals and one block in 11 games. “If I can be consistent and play like I did in Cancun, bring that to every game, I’ll have a pretty good year from here on out.

“I’m adding to the team now, but I feel I can add more in the future.”

Healy, the son of Paul and Anne Healy, hopes to carry his big games from Cancun back to Boone, and help his team in any way possible.

“We have just one goal and that’s to win a conference championship and get to the NCAA (tournament),” said Healy, who averaged 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds a game in his freshman season. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll get there.

“We are figuring some things out right and now and I think we’ll get better. I feel like the best part of the season is still to come.”

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