Second Half Surge Lifts Men's Basketball Past Texas State in Sun Belt Opener

BOONE, N.C. -- The Appalachian State men's basketball team erased a nine-point second half deficit in a 66-62 victory over Texas State in its Sun Belt opener on Friday evening inside the Holmes Center.

Junior Ronshad Shabazz (Raleigh, N.C./Huntington Prep) paced the Mountaineers (6-8, 1-0 SBC) with a game-high 20 points, to go along with a season-high tying five rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Justin Forrest (Decatur, Ga./Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy) added 14 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 mark on free throws.

The Apps also got 26 points from their bench. Senior Craig Hinton (Winston-Salem, N.C./East Forsyth) had 10 points and five rebounds. Junior Bennett Holley (Roanoke, Va./North Cross) finished with six points and sophomore Hunter Seacat (Mooresville, N.C./Lake Norman) added season-highs of four points and seven rebounds.

Nijal Pearson paced Texas State (7-7, 0-1 SBC) with 18 points. Off the bench, Eric Terry had 12 points and four rebounds and Tre Nottingham had 10 points.

App State found themselves down 58-52 before Shabazz scored nine consecutive points to put the Mountaineers in front 61-58 with 2:24 to go.
 
Texas State countered with the next four points to jump in front by one with 1:41 remaining in the contest.
 
After each team came up empty on its next possession, Shabazz was fouled with 57 seconds left and split a pair of free throws to tie the score at 62-62.
 
App State would get a defensive stop. As Shabazz dribbled the ball across half court, he found Forrest, who drained an open three-pointer from the left wing with 16 seconds to play to give the Mountaineers at 65-62 lead.
 
Texas State came down and put up a trey that was off the mark. Sophomore Isaac Johnson (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He stepped to the line and drained one of two free throws to put the game away.
 
After trailing 13-8 in the early going, the Apps reeled off 11 straight points, capped off by a trey from Holley, to take a 19-13 lead with 10:08 left in the first half.
 
Later in the half, the Bobcats used a 10-2 run to open up a 32-28 edge. The Black and Gold answered right back with six straight points and took a 36-35 advantage into the intermission.
 
In the second half, Texas State scored the first six points to open a 41-36 lead with just over 17 minutes to play.
 
The Mountaineers came right back with a 7-2 spurt to retake a 43-42 lead, only to see Texas State score the next 10 points to open a 52-43 lead with 11:34 to play.
 
From there, Appalachian was able to mount the comeback to improve to a perfect 5-0 at home on the season.

The Black and Gold finished 20-of-54 (37.0 percent) from the field, while the Bobcats went 23-of-50 (46.0 percent). The Mountaineer defense was tough on Texas State all night behind the arc, limiting the Bobcats to just 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) shooting from deep.

Appalachian also held an 11-3 edge in second chance points and pulled down 12 offensive rebounds in the win.
 
The Mountaineers will return to action on Sunday, as they host Sun Belt preseason favorite UT Arlington in the Holmes Center on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are still available for all remaining Appalachian State men's basketball home games. Appalachian State basketball single game tickets can be purchased online by clicking here, by phone at (828) 262-2079 or in person at the Appalachian State athletics ticket office, located at the Holmes Center (Monday - Friday; 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.).