Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl said the time would come when the Vols got hit in the mouth, and he wondered how they would respond.

Pearl, along with 12,876 at Thompson-Boling Arena, found out Tuesday night.

Appalachian State led by as many as 12 points in the first half and hung close throughout before UT prevailed 89-81.

"They were just making shots in the first half,'' UT's C.J. Watson said. "Nothing you can do about that.''

Fortunately for the Vols (5-0), Watson did what he could in the final minutes, scoring 10 of UT's final 13 en route to a season-high 23 points.

"When the game is on the line, he'll take the shot,'' Pearl said. "Again, he stepped up and made big plays, big shots and made free throws. You look at C.J.'s percentages, and he's taking good shots.''

While Watson was 7-of-10 from the floor, Chris Lofton struggled, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting - 2-of-7 beyond the 3-point arc with many of his misses rolling in and out of the cylinder.

The breaks the Vols received they made for themselves, particularly Dane Bradshaw.

Bradshaw, at 6-foot-4 playing power forward and point guard, did everything but score. His line: six points, a game-high 10 rebounds, a game-high three blocked shots and a team-high six assists.

"When they continue to score, you can't get your head down,'' Bradshaw said. "You know that in the end, defense is going to win.''

That appeared to be the case Tuesday night. UT forced seven turnovers in the second half with its full-court press.

Still, led by Douglass McLaughlin-Williams' 21 points, the Mountaineers (3-4) found ways to hang around.

The Vols went on a 9-0 run to build their largest lead at 81-71 on a Stanley Asumnu turnaround only to see Appalachian State answer with a 7-0 run that shrank the lead to 81-78 with 3:28 left.

That's when Watson went off, scoring seven consecutive points on a 3-pointer and four free throws.

The Mountaineers, clearly spent, flailed in the final moments, missing their final three 3-point attempts.

D.J. Thompson, Appalachian State's top scorer entering the game, had 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting and had eight assists. Thompson, however, was 1-of-9 shooting with two assists in the second half after the Vols adjusted.

And what an adjustment it took.

Tennessee needed to close the final 5:22 of the first half on a 19-5 run just to take a 48-46 lead into intermission.

Down 41-29, Watson triggered an offensive outburst with a trey, and UT scored 11 in a row to make it 41-40 as the crowd roared .

Appalachian State broke its scoreless streak on a Jarvis Jackson bucket to go up 43-40 at the 2:53 mark, but the Vols persisted.

"I think the crowd helped us a lot,'' Watson said. "We made some steals and fed off the crowd's energy.''

UT's Jordan Howell came off the bench to drain a trey and followed with a diving steal, leading to an Asumnu three-point play that gave UT a 46-43 lead. It was the Vols' first lead since being up 9-7.

"I think the swing was when Jordan Howell came in and played well,'' Pearl said. "He was in there at a crucial moment.''

There were anxious moments prior to UT's run.

The Mountaineers were determined to scale Rocky Top early, building and holding a 12-point lead through the middle stages of the first half

Appalachian State canned seven of eight shots during a 12-0 run to go up 16-9. The Mountaineers continued to hit shots at a 60-percent clip through most of the first 20 minutes.

The Vols finished with five players in double figures. In addition to Watson and Lofton, Major Wingate (12), Asumnu (12) and Andre Patterson (11) contributed at key times. JaJuan Smith scored a career-high nine points off the bench.

UT plays at No. 2 Texas on Dec. 17. The Vols' next home game is Dec. 27 against Alabama A&M.