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February 26, 2025MBB: App State Drops Tuesday Contest to Georgia Southern
Feb. 25, 2025
Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@ap******.edu)
Box Score: Attached
STATESBORO, Ga. – In the team’s first trip to the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, the App State Men’s Basketball team started hot by nailing 10 of their first 16 shots in the opening half, but a strong run to close the half by Georgia Southern helped it take a lead into halftime, which ended up being enough for it to claim a 61-59 win on its home floor. App State (17-12, 10-7 SBC) had a chance late to win it after a missed free throw, but a three-quarter court heave fell short at the buzzer.
The Mountaineers endured several long scoring droughts against the Eagles (15-15, 7-10 SBC) on Tuesday, which included a 7:35 period in the first half where the Mountaineers didn’t score. App State, which led by 10 at the point of the drought, struggled to find an answer against Georgia Southern’s 2-3 zone defense that it switched to and went on a 15-0 run to take a 30-25 lead with two minutes left to play in the first half. App State took a lead again in the second half but again endured a long four-minute drought from the field, which helped the Eagles take the lead late and win.
For the third consecutive game, CJ Huntley tallied a 20-point game as he finished with 23 points while also recording his ninth double-double of the season as he grabbed 10 rebounds. Myles Tate scored 14 points to mark his 23rd game scoring in double figures this season, and Dior Conners scored nine points, which included his 1,000th career collegiate point early in the first half. Conners became the third Mountaineer this season to eclipse 1,000 career collegiate points (Huntley and Tate).
How it Happened
Georgia Southern started the game’s scoring a minute into the game as Tyson Brown forced his way into the lane to score. The Mountaineers scored their first points of the game two possessions later as Huntley raced out behind the defense and caught a pass from Alonzo Dodd and slammed it home. But the Eagles buried their first of 10 threes in the game to take a 5-2 lead by the 18:22 mark.
Huntley continued his torrid start by scoring five consecutive points to tie the score at seven with just under 17 minutes to go in the opening half. Jalil Beaubrun quickly gave App State its first lead at 9-7 by powering his way into the lane for two.
A turnover by the Eagles helped result in a Conners 3-pointer in transition to shoot App State up five points by the 14:42 mark. Georgia Southern answered the Mountaineer three with a 3-pointer of their own to cut the App State advantage down to two points, but Tate and Conners combined to score five straight points and swelled App State’s lead to eight with 13 minutes to go. Conners’ right-wing three marked his 1,000th career point at the collegiate level.
Neither team made a field goal over the next two minutes of game time after Conners’ three, but the Eagles trimmed their deficit down to five with a trio of free throws. Then, a Collin Kuhl putback layup cut App State’s lead down to three before Jamil Muttilib nailed a tough floater in the paint to put App State back up five.
At the 9:19 mark of the opening frame, Huntley drilled his fourth field-goal attempt of the game to that point to extend the Mountaineers’ lead to seven. Another 3-pointer by Huntley ballooned App State ahead by 10 points, which was the largest lead by either team in the game. Huntley’s 3-pointer marked App State’s 10th made field goal in its first 16 shot attempts.
Once Huntley’s three hit the net, the Eagles hit another gear defensively, which allowed them to go on a large run to pull back into the game. What was a 15-0 run by Georgia Southern started with a Eugene Brown III 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game at the under-eight timeout.
Georgia Southern’s 2-3 zone that it switched to on defense proved vital in cooling off App State. The Eagles drilled two straight 3-pointers to cut their deficit down to one point and eventually took a one-point lead by the under-four timeout. Between media breaks, the Mountaineers missed five straight shots.
The drought continued for the Mountaineers out of the timeout, and Georgia Southern took full advantage of that as it went ahead 30-25 with 2:25 to go in the half. App State scored for the first time since the 8:36 mark thanks to Tate’s running jumper in the lane, but the Eagles drilled the last shot of the half to take a five-point lead into halftime. App State endured a 7:35 scoring drought near the end of the half and missed nine of its final 10 shots.
Although they closed the half poorly, the Mountaineers remained in the game in the opening half on the back of Huntley, who tallied 12 points. Additionally, the Mountaineers hit on five of their 11 3-point attempts in the opening half. App State only got to the free-throw line one time in the first half after shooting 31 free-throw attempts the last time the two teams met in Boone on Feb. 20.
App State opened the second half by scoring the first four points to cut the Eagle lead down to one. Beaubrun’s free throw and Dodd’s three in the corner got it to that point. Another basket by Dodd, this one a running layup in the paint, put App State on top as it answered Georgia Southern’s strong close to the first half with a solid open to the second half.
Georgia Southern reclaimed the lead at 36-33, but the Mountaineers answered right back by taking a 37-36 lead at the 15:55 mark of the final half thanks to Conners’ third made three of the game. The Eagles scored to retake the lead, but two possessions later, Huntley converted a free throw and tallied a second-chance layup to put the Mountaineers up 40-38.
After Huntley’s basket, the two teams both endured a brief drought before Bradley Douglas tied the game at 40. The Eagles took a brief lead, but Tate and Huntley scored four points in a row to give the Mountaineers a two-point lead at the under-12 timeout.
The Eagles quickly took the lead right back out of the timeout, going on an 8-0 run to go ahead five at the under-eight timeout. Enduring another shooting slump, App State scored just one point between the 11:24 mark and the 7:12 mark of the second half.
With Georgia Southern ahead by five, both teams struggled to find the basket, as neither team scored for more than three minutes. During this stretch, the teams combined to miss eight straight shots while the Mountaineers missed the front end of a one-and-one chance two times. Huntley ended the long drought with a layup to bring the score within three by the final break of the half.
Huntley’s 23rd points of the game fell through, cutting the Eagle lead down to one with 3:34 to play. Georgia Southern countered by scoring a basket, and after a Tate layup, Nakavieon White hit a huge three to extend the Eagle lead to four with 1:34 to go in the game. Tate made it a three-point game with a freebie, but Douglas’ three helped deliver a huge blow to App State late as he made it a six-point game with less than a minute to go.
Needing to foul, App State fouled Eren Banks, who shot the lead back to six for the Eagles, but a powerful dunk by Beaubrun made it a four-point game with nine seconds to go. App State again fouled on defense, and Douglas missed the front end, which helped Tate race down to make it a two-point game. The Mountaineers fouled Banks out of the inbounds play, and he missed the resulting free throw, which gave App State a chance to win it with a second to go. But the three-quarter court heave fell short, which sealed a tight win for the Eagles.
Top Performers
App State saw two players reach double figures against the Eagles, which marked the team’s 28th straight game seeing two double-figure scorers. Nobody scored more than CJ Huntley in the game as he tallied 23 points, his third straight game with 20 or more points. The graduate student also added 10 rebounds to secure his ninth double-double of the year. Myles Tate tallied 14 points, which was his 23rd game of the year scoring in double figures. He also added six rebounds and three assists. Dior Conners scored nine points on three made 3-pointers, which was his team-leading 11th game this year with at least three made 3-pointers.
Up Next
The Mountaineers are set to conclude regular-season play on Friday with a nationally televised bout with the Marshall Thundering Herd in Huntington. It will be the Mountaineers’ fifth nationally televised contest in the last two seasons. Tipoff from the Cam Henderson Center is slated for 9 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
The 2024-25 men’s basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
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App State Athletics Strategic Communications
425 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, NC, 28608
www.appstatesports.com
