MBB: Mountaineers Defeat Dukes in Defensive Slugfest
Jan. 18, 2025
Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@ap******.edu)
Box Score: Attached
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Using clutch shots late and stellar defense all game long, the App State Men’s Basketball team (11-7, 5-2 SBC) ran their win streak to five, defeating the James Madison Dukes on their home floor in a defensive slugfest, 58-50. Despite enduring a 12-2 run to close the first half, the Mountaineers outscored the Dukes by eight points in the final half to close out a season sweep of James Madison for the second consecutive season.
App State’s defense was brilliant again on Saturday as it held the Dukes to just 50 points, the fewest they have scored in a home game this season. It was the 10th consecutive game that App State hasn’t let an opponent get to 70 points against it while also being the 20th straight win by the Mountaineers in which they hold their opponents to less than 60 points.
Dior Conners stepped up huge in the win over James Madison as he tallied 18 points on a season-best six made 3-pointers. Conners accounted for each of App State’s first nine points and delivered the dagger with just two minutes to play to seal the victory. As it stands at the conclusion of the game, Conners’ six made threes are the third-highest tally in a game by a Sun Belt player this season.
On top of the performance from Conners, the Mountaineers made 10 3-pointers as a team against the Dukes on just 20 attempts, marking the fourth time in the last five games that App State has drilled 10 or more threes. During App State’s five-game winning streak, it is shooting 48-104 from deep which is good for a 48 percent clip. Saturday also marked the Mountaineer’s eighth game this season with at least 10 3-pointers, the most instances since the 2022-23 season.
How it Happened
In the Mountaineers’ sixth trip to Harrisonburg in program history, the Dukes got on the scoreboard first, using an Elijah Hutchins-Everett basket to tally the game’s first score. James Madison quickly made it 5-0 with a three at the 18:12 mark as the Mountaineers struggled to find their footing early.
App State scored its first bucket of the contest with 17:34 to play in the first as Conners got loose in the corner and drained his first three. Conners struck again from deep to make it 7-6 and then drilled his third three in his first three attempts to give App State its first lead of the game at 9-7 by the first media break, a lead App State wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the game.
After the timeout, Myles Tate found himself free in the paint and hit a turnaround jumper for his first points to make it a four-point game. A possession later, Tate found Michael Marcus Jr. who muscled in a layup through contact to put the Mountaineers up six with 12 minutes to play.
Marcus missed the resulting free throw after being fouled on his layup, but the hustle from Alonzo Dodd on the offensive glass resulted in a CJ Huntley score, putting App State up eight by the under-12 timeout. Huntley’s layup capped off what was a 12-0 Mountaineer run, highlighted by four missed JMU shots and three turnovers forced by the App State defense.
James Madison finally ended its drought with an Eddie Ricks III free throw, but App State delivered a huge early punch to the Dukes as Tate sunk a long three from the top of the key to put the Mountaineers up 10 with 8:59 to play in the half. App State’s 10-point advantage was its largest of the game to that point.
Despite trailing by its largest deficit of the game, the Dukes didn’t quit and began fighting their way back into this defensive slugfest as the time ticked toward halftime. James Madison scored four straight points before the under-four timeout to cut its deficit back to six with just under four to play. Huntley quieted the Duke crowd, but App State quickly saw its 10-point lead shrink to just three at the 2:06 mark after Bryce Lindsay drilled a three.
Mark Freeman’s 3-pointer with 44 seconds to play forced a tie at 20 apiece, capping off a 12-2 JMU run to close the half. The Mountaineers were unable to find their offensive footing over the final eight minutes of the half as they missed seven of their last eight shots and turned the ball over five times.
Only four Mountaineers found the basket in the opening stanza on Saturday, with Conners pacing all scorers with nine. Conners’ nine first-half points were his most scored since Jan. 4 against Texas State. Although the Mountaineer offense tallied the fewest points in a half since the first half on Nov. 10 against Wisconsin, the Mountaineer defense was stout, allowing just eight Duke field goals and forcing seven turnovers.
Returning from the halftime break, Jalil Beaubrun, who was held scoreless in the first half, recorded App State’s first points of the second half as he slithered his way to the basket. JMU quickly responded to tie the game, but Huntley’s first 3-pointer of the game helped the Mountaineers make their first two field goals of the final frame.
Forcing a stop on the other end, Tate used a screen and found Beaubrun rolling to the basket where he backed his way in and scored with a powerful move while being fouled. JMU scored to answer, but Tate’s first points of the half followed by a transition three from Beaubrun soared App State ahead by eight with 16:19 to play.
Continuing the team’s hot start to open the half, Tate’s second three of the game off a beautiful inbounds play drawn up by head coach Dustin Kerns fell through, swelling the Mountaineer advantage to eight with 15:30 to play. App State had made each of its first five field goals of the second half after finishing the first half just 1-8 from the floor.
Not going away, the Dukes scored five straight points to cut their deficit back to three by the under-12 timeout. This run was short-lived, however, as Conners found an opening in the James Madison defense and hit his fourth three of the game. As part of valuable minutes off the bench, Luke Wilson hit two free throws at the 10:59 mark to balloon the Mountaineers back ahead by 10.
Conners’ fifth three of the game hit nothing but net to answer a pair of Hutchins-Everett free throws and Wilson’s aggressiveness paid off yet again as he crashed the offensive glass to get fouled. He hit one of two free throws, but Wilson was responsible for giving the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game at 12 points with 9:27 to play in the game.
The Dukes kept fighting despite being down by double digits and quickly trimmed their advantage back to just four points with 4:54 to play. Hot-shooting Lindsay scored five straight points before Ricks III’s 3-pointer ended the spurt and brought the James Madison crowd to its feet.
A step-back jumper from Tate at the left elbow briefly quieted the crowd, but another long ball from Lindsay forced a timeout from Kerns as it was just a three-point game with two minutes to play.
Talking through strategy during the break, solid offensive action at the top of the key from Tate led to the sixth and biggest 3-pointer of the game from Conners in the right corner, giving him 18 and all but securing a Mountaineer win in Harrisonburg on Saturday.
James Madison retaliated with a quick basket by AJ Smith to make it 54-50 App State, but a defensive stop and a missed layup by Freeman led to an intentional foul on Tate who sank two free throws to seal it. Freeman missed another layup, leading to another chance for Tate at the free-throw line which he converted, making it 58-50 when the horn sounded. App State’s 58 points scored marked the fewest it has scored in a win since Feb. 9, 2023, in a 52-45 win over ULM on the road.
Top Performers
For the eighth time this season, Myles Tate recorded a 20-point game, which led all scorers. He did so on an efficient 7-12 shooting while also tallying eight rebounds and eight assists. Dior Conners came up clutch against the Dukes on several occasions, drilling six key 3-pointers to score 18 points, his most since scoring 19 against Sam Houston on Nov. 27. Jalil Beaubrun and CJ Huntley each added seven points against the Dukes with Huntley adding eight rebounds to his seven points.
Up Next
App State is set to continue its season-long four-game road trip in Jonesboro, Ark., where it will meet the Sun Belt’s preseason favorite Arkansas State RedWolves on Thursday. Thursday’s contest will also be the Mountaineers’ first nationally televised contest since last February at Marshall. Tipoff from Jonesboro is slated for 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The 2024-25 men’s basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
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