Trojans Stifle Mountaineers on Saturday
Trojans Stifle Mountaineers on Saturday
Box Score LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Two days after posting its highest scoring total against an NCAA Division I opponent in almost five years, Appalachian State University men's basketball was held to its lowest scoring output of the year in a 64-46 loss at Sun Belt Conference foe UALR on Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center.

While Saturday's game lacked the offensive firepower of Thursday's 104-95 loss at South Alabama, the storyline in the early going was nearly identical as the Mountaineers (4-9, 1-3 Sun Belt) fell behind by double digits early and could never climb out of the hole as the Trojans (6-9, 1-4) earned their first league win of the season.

App State led three in the early going, first on Dustin Clarke's jumper in the opening minute and again when Tommy Spagnolo threw down a fastbreak dunk to make it 4-2 two minutes later.

After UALR took its first lead of the game (6-4) on James White's dunk with 16:47 to go in the first half, Frank Eaves stroked a three to give Appalachian what would turn out to be its last lead of the game (7-6) with 16:30 on the clock.

It was all Trojans after that as UALR ripped off a 10-0 run to jump back in front (16-7) just two minutes later and took its first double-digit lead of the game (22-11) when Gus Leeper scored two of his 12 points off the bench with a layup at the 10:38 mark of the opening period.

The Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to as little as eight points (27-19) three minutes later, but UALR scored nine of the final 14 points of the half to take a comfortable 36-24 lead to the locker room.

Appalachian was able to cut into the deficit in the early stages of the second half, getting with nine points on three occasions in the first 10 minutes of action, but the Trojans never let up and used a 9-0 run from 9:48-6:22 to take a commanding 18-point lead (57-39) and would never see the lead dip below 16 points the rest of the way.

After seeing five players score in double figures on Thursday night, Appalachian had just one player eclipse the 10-point mark as Eaves tied UALR's Roger Woods with 15 points. The rest of Appalachian State's starters combined for just 10 points and 10 rebounds while the bench, which poured in 27 points against South Alabama, managed to pour in 21.

Besides the 15-point effort by Woods, he also finished as the game leader with six rebounds. Leeper finished 6-of-10 from the floor as he tallied his highest point total of the season. White finished with 10 points and added four rebounds and two assists to his stat line.

As a team, the Mountaineers were held to just 30.2 percent (16-of-53) from the floor, its lowest total of the season, while the Trojans connected on 51.0 percent (26-of-51) from the floor and were a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Appalachian State will fly home on Sunday and begin practice on Monday as it hosts Sun Belt foes Arkansas State (Jan. 15) and Georgia State (Jan. 17) in Boone this weekend.

NOTES: Appalachian State fell to 1-2 all-time against UALR ... the Mountaineers also dropped to 0-2 when facing the Trojans in Little Rock ... App State's field-goal percentage was its lowest since connecting on just 29.2 percent (19-of-65) in a 77-49 loss at Cincinnati on Nov. 16, 2013 ... Spagnolo failed to score in double figures for just the fifth time this season and just the seventh time in his last 26 games dating to last year ... the Mountaineers were outscored 34-14 in the paint ... Chris Burgess, Dustin Clarke, Milos Kostic and Tommy Spagnolo combined to score just 16 points after combining for 59 in Thursday's loss at South Alabama.
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