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Appalachian State forward Jay Canty to miss nine games for academic reasons

Jay Canty, Negus Webster-Chan

Appalachian State’s Jay Canty, left, shoots over Missouri’s Negus Webster-Chan, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Columbia, Mo. Missouri won the game 72-56. Canty led all scorers with 29 points. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

AP

Appalachian State is one of the teams expected to contend in a wide-open Southern Conference this season, and junior forward Jay Canty is one of the reasons why. Canty, a 6-foot-6 forward, is one of the SoCon’s best returnees after he posted averages of 14.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in 2012-13.

Unfortunately for Canty and the Mountaineers he won’t be available for the team’s first nine games, as he’s academically ineligible. On Wednesday head coach Jason Capel announced the status of both Canty and freshman guard Aaron Scott, who’s been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

“But I am proud that Jay is stepping up to his responsibilities, is doing the things he needs to do and growing from this,” Capel said according to Tommy Bowman of the Winston-Salem Journal. “The team has rallied around him and he’s still very much a part of the big picture of who we are going to be even though we’ll obviously miss him early in the season.

“He will be back. He’s doing a good job of taking care of what he needs to take care of.”

With Canty missing the first nine games of the season Appalachian State won’t have him for games against N.C. State (Friday), Cincinnati (November 16), Georgia (November 29) and Charlotte (December 8). He’s expected to be eligible to return on December 18 against Presbyterian, the first game after the end of the fall semester.

With Canty out of the lineup Appalachian State’s most productive returnees are senior forward Tevin Baskin (9.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and junior guard Tab Hamilton (9.2, 2.1), with sophomore forward Michael Obacha (5.3, 4.6) being the team’s leading returning rebounder.

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