MBB: App State Drops Tight Road Contest at Arkansas State
Jan. 23, 2025
Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@ap******.edu)
Box Score: Attached
JONESBORO, Ark. – Despite scratching back after going down by 13 points in the second half to make it a two-point game, cold shooting plagued the App State Men’s Basketball team (11-8, 5-3 SBC) in Jonesboro on Thursday, helping the Sun Belt’s preseason favorite Arkansas State Red Wolves (15-5, 6-2 SBC) to a 65-55 victory on their home floor. App State made just two 3-pointers in the contest on 25 attempts, tied for the fewest in a game this season.
The trio of Jalil Beaubrun, CJ Huntley and Myles Tate combined for all but one point of App State’s 55 against the Red Wolves. Beaubrun tallied a season-best 19 points on 7-9 shooting, with 14 coming in the first half, while Huntley recorded his fourth 20-point game in his last five outings with 22.
App State’s defense provided another strong performance against the Red Wolves, keeping the strong-shooting squad to just six 3-pointers on 26 attempts and a 36 percent mark from the field. The Mountaineers haven’t let an opponent shoot better than 40 percent in each of their last six games while also extending their streak of consecutive games keeping their opponents below 40 percent from three to 18.
How it Happened
In front of a hostile road environment and a national TV audience, Arkansas State and Joseph Pinion started the scoring as he hit a jumper from the paint. Taryn Todd, the Sun Belt’s second-leading scorer entering Thursday, extended the Red Wolves’ lead to 4-0 by the 18:44 mark, but Huntley’s first points of the game put the Mountaineers on the board to stall the run.
A basket from Izaiyah Nelson extended the slim Arkansas State lead to 6-2, but a quick spurt from Beaubrun and Huntley made it a two-point game as play hit the first media timeout. Out of the break, Beaubrun muscled his way in for two more to give him four early points and made it 10-8 with 15 minutes to go.
Using the loud home crowd to their advantage, Kobe Julien and Nelson found themselves open under the basket and quickly shot the Red Wolves ahead six by the under-12 timeout. Arkansas State made seven of its first 14 shots to start the game.
Michael Marcus Jr.’s hustle on the offensive glass resulted in free-throw attempts off the timeout. He connected on one of two shots, but Beaubrun was there for the follow-up off the miss to bring App State back within three with 11 minutes to play in the opening half.
The Mountaineers turned up their defense over the next few minutes as they forced the Red Wolves into eight consecutive missed shots, which allowed App State to take its first lead of the game. Beaubrun was the catalyst in putting the Mountaineers ahead as he tallied a strong layup before thundering home a monster two-handed slam to give him 10 early points.
Arkansas State quickly reclaimed the lead off a three from Julien and after another Beaubrun basket, its second long ball of the game rang true, giving it a three-point lead by the under-eight timeout. Julien again found himself free in the lane and converted an and-one chance to push Arkansas State ahead by four as play neared halftime.
Now down six, App State needed a basket to clip the Red Wolves’ momentum before halftime and found it with Huntley as a slick pass from Tate led to a posterizing dunk by the big man. Beaubrun tallied his sixth basket of the first half with 1:10 to play, but a free throw from Julien, his 17th points of the game to that point helped the Red Wolves to a five-point lead at halftime.
App State struggled to find its footing on offense, but solid defense helped make it a close game in the first half. Despite not making a single 3-pointer in the opening 20 minutes, the Red Wolves shot almost as poorly, going 2-12 from the long line. Overall, both squads combined to make just 22 field-goal attempts in the first half of play.
The offensive struggle continued to open the final stanza in Jonesboro as the Mountaineers missed their first four shots of the half. This allowed Arkansas State to quickly jump ahead by its largest lead of 13 points just 3:33 into the half. Three consecutive 3-pointers fell through from Terrance Ford Jr. and Pinion to get it there.
A pair of free throws by Beaubrun quieted the crowd briefly, but it would be short-lived as the Red Wolves went back ahead by 13 after Todd sunk two free throws.
Down by 13 for the second time in the second half, App State made a run to cut its deficit before the under-12 timeout. First, it was Tate who tallied four consecutive points to trim the Mountaineer deficit back to nine, and then Huntley buried App State’s first 3-pointer of the game to bring it back to a six-point game. Huntley then found his way into the lane and laid up a left-handed hook shot, which forced a timeout from Red Wolves’ head coach Bryan Hodgson.
Tate didn’t let the break stop the momentum as he weaseled his way past the Arkansas State defense for two to make it a two-point game with 11:49 to play. A 3-pointer from Pinion ended what was an 11-0 run by App State.
For the second time in the game, Huntley found an open space and drilled his second three of the game to bring the Mountaineers to within one point for the second time with 10 minutes to go. As play fell under the under-eight timeout, it was still a two-point game with both teams going quiet from the floor.
After a free throw from Tate to make the score 50-47, the Red Wolves started to get hot as Pinion hit on his fourth three of the game to put them up six. The Arkansas State defense forced a miss on the other end and raced up the floor to score yet again to go back up eight as time dwindled.
With the game clock slowly ticking away, Ford Jr. snuck his way past the defense and laid in a bucket to put the Red Wolves back up eight with just two minutes to go. Tate drilled a turnaround jumper to quiet the run, but a dunk by Nelson ignited the home crowd and delivered the dagger to App State with 61 seconds to go. When the clock showed zeroes, the Red Wolves had claimed a 65-55 win.
Top Performers
Recording his fourth 20-point game in his last five outings, CJ Huntley paced all scorers in Jonesboro on Thursday, tallying 22 points. 14 of his 22 came in the second half as he found his shot after a cold first half. In his best game of the season, Jalil Beaubrun accounted for a season-high 19 points on an efficient 7-9 shooting. His energy in the first half down low helped keep the Mountaineers in the contest early. Myles Tate scored 13 points, marking his 10th consecutive game scoring in double figures.
Up Next
The Mountaineers are set to conclude their season-long four-game road trip on Saturday with a visit to Fant-Ewing Coliseum to take on the ULM Warhawks. Tipoff from Monroe, La. is set for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) and can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men’s basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
—
App State Athletics Strategic Communications
425 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, NC, 28608
www.appstatesports.com
