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Feb. 28, 2025
Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@ap******.edu)
Box Score: Attached
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Playing in its fifth nationally televised game since the start of last season, the App State Men’s Basketball team struggled to take care of the basketball in the first half, which helped the Marshall Thundering Herd pull ahead and claim a 75-57 win to close the regular season. It was the Mountaineers’ largest loss since falling by 15 points at UNCW on Nov. 30.
Marshall (19-12, 12-6 SBC) started hot from the field in the opening frame on its senior night, going 43 percent from the field in the first half and drilling six threes. But the Herd also played smothering defense against the Mountaineers (17-13, 10-8 SBC), forcing 15 App State turnovers, with 10 coming in the opening frame, which led to 25 Marshall points. Marshall’s 25 points off App State’s turnovers on Friday marked the most a Mountaineer opponent has scored in a game this season.
App State shot the ball well from 3-point land, drilling nine of its 21 attempts from the line (42.9 percent), but struggled to make twos as it totaled a 36 percent shooting percentage for the game. Additionally, the Mountaineers made just 12 of its 21 free-throw attempts. On the flip side, Marshall shot 42 percent from the field and hit on 10 of its 25 3-point attempts.
Myles Tate, CJ Huntley and Dior Conners each reached double figures against the Herd with Tate tallying 19 points to lead all scorers. Tate sits at 497 points as of the conclusion of the game against Marshall and needs just three points to become the 24th player in program history to reach 500 points in a single season. Huntley tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds to mark his 10th double-double of the year and his fourth double-double in his last five games. Conners provided his team-leading 12th game of the season making at least three 3-pointers and poured in 11 points on four made field goals.
How it Happened
The Mountaineers scored the game’s first points at the Cam Henderson Center after Tate hit a free throw at the 19:04 mark. Marshall answered by hitting a three to take the lead at 3-1 and never let that advantage go for the duration of the contest. The Herd almost instantly went ahead by double-digits by the game’s first media timeout. App State missed its first four field-goal attempts and turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes of the game.
App State made its first field goal of the game at the 15:31 mark as Huntley hit on a putback layup. The Mountaineers closed their deficit down to just three by the 13:44 mark as Jamil Muttilib, Huntley and Tate hit a long ball on back-to-back-to-back possessions to pull the Mountaineers closer.
Tate’s three made it 14-12 in favor of the Herd as App State went on its own 11-3 run to shrink the gap. Marshall had an answer to the Mountaineers’ run as it scored each of the next seven points to jump back ahead by nine by the under-12 timeout.
Alonzo Dodd hit on a long three from the right wing to make the score 21-17 with just over nine minutes to play. Dodd’s three was the Mountaineers’ fourth of the first half to that point. After Marshall hit on a free throw to go ahead by five points, the two teams endured a 90-second stretch without scoring before Jalil Beaubrun’s free throw made it a four-point game with 7:17 to play.
After Obinna Anochilli-Killen hit a layup to put the Herd up six, Conners stormed into the lane and converted a tough layup to push the score within four points. But App State went cold over the next four minutes, which allowed Marshall to go back ahead by double-digits by the final media break. App State missed three shots and turned the ball over three times during that stretch.
Marshall quickly went ahead by 14 points with 2:45 to play after Cade Gibbs hit on a three from the corner. Luke Wilson powered home a two-handed dunk to make it a 12-point game, but the Herd and Gibbs hit another 3-pointer to give them a 15-point lead with 1:27 to play. Gibbs played just six minutes in the first half, but shot 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from three.
Tate scored late to make the score 39-26 in favor of Marshall at halftime. App State made four threes in the first half and saw Tate score 10 in the opening frame, but Marshall’s strong defensive presence allowed it to force 10 Mountaineer turnovers. This led to 17 Marshall points, which was the most points off turnovers that an App State opponent has scored since Jan. 25 against ULM.
The Herd continued to pull away in the early stages of the second half, jumping in front by 16 points just 90 seconds into the final stanza. Conners drilled his two first 3-pointers of the game to keep the score within reach, but the Herd couldn’t be contained as they hit on five of its first six shot attempts in the second half to pull ahead by 18 at the 16:25 mark.
Huntley halted the Marshall run with a 3-pointer at the top of the key and Tate nailed a free throw to make it 52-36 by the first media break. Out of the timeout, Jalen Speer and Dezayne Mingo sandwiched baskets between a Beaubrun score and Marshall led by 18 as play continued.
Marshall went ahead by 20 points by the 11:54 mark of the second half. It was App State’s first time trailing by 20 points in a game since trailing by 22 against UNCW on Nov. 30. After the under-12 media timeout, Jakob Gibbs sunk a layup to make it a 22-point game. Cade Gibbs quickly gave the Herd a 24-point advantage with 10 minutes to go, marking the second-largest deficit App State has seen this season (34 vs. Wisconsin).
A pair of Tate free throws cut into the lead and then Huntley brought the score within 20 points by hitting on a tip-in layup at the under-eight break. Tate hit on his second three to give him 15 points for the game, but Marshall didn’t let the Mountaineers get closer than 17 by the under-four timeout.
App State emptied its bench after the final media break and saw Jason Clarke Jr. and Anthony Alston hit the floor for the first time since Jan. 11 against James Madison. When the final buzzer sounded, Marshall had claimed an 18-point victory on its home floor.
Top Performers
Myles Tate led all scorers on Friday, tallying 19 points, which was his 25th game this season scoring in double figures. He sits just three points away from 500 for the season. CJ Huntley recorded his 10th double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The fifth-year forward also dished out three assists to match his career high. Dior Conners was the third Mountaineer in double figures against the Herd, posting 11 points on three made 3-pointers. He has tallied six double-digit point games in Sun Belt play.
Up Next
App State has secured the sixth seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and will play its first game at the tournament on Friday, March 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. CT). Due to the new tournament format, the Mountaineers will not know their opponent until the conclusion of game 7 of the Sun Belt Tournament. All games until the tournament championship will be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men’s basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
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App State Athletics Strategic Communications
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