BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball raced to a 30-8 lead and never looked back in a 76-56 romp over Texas State on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.

Appalachian State (3-12, 1-3 Sun Belt) jumped out to the 22-point advantage less than 12 minutes into the game and never led by less than 14 the rest of the way. The 20-point margin of victory was the Mountaineers' biggest of the season and largest since it routed UL Monroe, 66-43, on Feb. 28 of last season.

Frank Eaves led Appalachian with 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting and freshmen Ronshad Shabazz and Emarius Logan combined for 23 (12 for Shabazz, 11 for Logan). This marked Eaves' third 30-point outing of the season and fourth of his career - the senior netted 31 points against Mercer on Nov. 27 and dropped 38 against Hofstra at Madison Square Garden. The total at The Garden is still tied for the most points by an invididual player this season at MSG.

Much like Thursday night, Appalachian State jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first 8:38 of the contest. To that point, Eaves began the game 3-for-3 from the field and ended up making his first five shots of the afternoon before a miss. Following back-to-back threes from Matt O'Boyle (Peoria, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain/Pima Community College) and Eaves, Texas State was forced to call a timeout with the Apps up 26-8 and 9:49 left in the half.

Nearly two minutes later, the Mountaineers completed a 10-0 run and found themselves up 30-8 with 8:02 left in the opening half. Up 35-15, the Black and Gold pushed its lead to 23 points following a Jake Babic three-pointer. The Bobcats would crawl back a little bit and would trail 42-26 at the break.

Eaves would begin the second half 3-for-4 from the field and App State would build its lead back up to 23 points and be in front of Texas State 53-30 at the 14:39 mark. The Mountaineers would maintain a consistent 20-point lead with the help of great bench play in the second half. App State's bench outscored Texas State's 28-22 for the game.

Appalachian State played a season-high 18 players on Saturday afternoon, while Trey Ford, Kevin Kerley and Jalen Sanders received their first minutes of the season.

With just 32 seconds left in the game, a Ford three-pointer lifted the Mountaineer faithful to their feet. App State would close out its first Sun Belt victory with a 20-point win over Texas State. Coming into the game, Texas State was allowing 58.3 points per game - good for third in the country coming into the game.

Appalachian State outrebounded its opponent for the fourth time this season and and is now 3-1 in such games.

The Mountaineers will return to the court on Jan. 14 at Little Rock before traveling to Arkansas State on Jan. 16 to continue Sun Belt play next week.