Tough Brand
Kellen Brand, transported to the hospital to check out a back injury just three days earlier, showed no lingering effects Saturday when he scored 19 points in Appalachian State’s victory over Western Carolina.
It was a big win for the Mountaineers heading into this week’s road trip – at Samford Thursday and Chattanooga Saturday – and a nice recovery for Brand, a senior from High Point who has earned a reputation as a tough, hard-nosed competitor.
Brand flipped over a defender and landed on his back in a Jan. 20 game at Georgia Southern and had difficulty moving. He was taken on a backboard and stretcher to East Georgia Regional Medical Center as a precautionary measure. He was examined and released, but Brand said that it was a scary moment.
“I thank God he pulled me out of that situation,” Brand said. “It could have been a lot worse than it was. I’m OK now.”
It’s not the first time Brand has been hurt. A former football player, Brand has taken his share of knocks and collisions and seems to thrive on them.
“One of the officials told me, ‘That kid’s always on the floor,’” Coach Buzz Peterson of the Mountaineers said Saturday. “He fell one time today and I heard the biggest thump. I didn’t see it, but I heard it, and knew that if I looked it would be Brand on the ground again. But that’s KB. I can’t fault him. He plays hard and gives everything.”
Brand’s trip to the hospital wasn’t his first one, either. He collapsed after a collision in a game at Western Carolina two years ago and was transported to the nearest hospital. Brand was asked if there was a hospital in a Southern Conference town that he hadn’t been to.
“I’ve actually been to all of them, I think,” Brand said. “But I’m trying to stay out of them now, since I’ve visited every one.”