Strong First Half Lifts Men's Basketball Past UT Arlington

BOONE, N.C. -- The Appalachian State men's basketball team never trailed in a 80-76 victory over UT Arlington on Sunday afternoon inside the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (7-8, 2-0 SBC) have won their first two games in Sun Belt play for the first time since they joined the league in the 2014-15 season. In addition, the victory also improves the Black and Gold to a perfect 6-0 at home this season, which is the first time the program has won their first six homes games to begin a season since 2004-05.

The Black and Gold used an early 12-0 run, holding the Mavericks scoreless for a 7:57 span, to build an early 21-5 lead.
 
Later in the half, the Mountaineers went on a 13-0 run to expand its lead to 34-12 with just over two minutes left in the first half. The Mountaineers took a 41-21 lead into the intermission.

In the first half, the Mountaineers limited the Mavericks (9-6, 0-2 SBC) to just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) shooting and also forced 10 turnovers. The Apps shot 52.0 percent (13-of-25) and went 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) on three-pointers in the opening frame.
 
In the second half, a dunk by senior Griffin Kinney (Delaware, Ohio/Fork Union Military Academy) gave the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game of 25 points at 48-23.
 
UTA would answer with 10 straight points to trim the App State lead to 48-33 with 12:25 remaining.
 
The Black and Gold countered with eight straight points to push their lead back to 23 points at 56-33 with 10:22 to go.
 
The Mavericks would use a 9-1 run and cut the Appalachian lead to 65-52 with at the 6:18 mark of the second half.  But the Apps countered with five straight points, capped off by a dunk from junior Ronshad Shabazz (Raleigh, N.C./Huntington Prep), to build the lead back to 18 points.
 
UTA would make a late push and get the Mountaineer lead down to five points at 78-73 with 18 seconds left. Shabazz was fouled and missed a pair of free throws, but a costly Maverick turnover gave the ball back to App State. Sophomore Isaac Johnson (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) would knock down two free throws to put the game away.

Shabazz paced the Apps with 21 points, a career-high six assists and a career-high tying three steals. Kinney added 11 points, while Isaac Johnson had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Off the bench, sophomore O'Showen Williams (Macon, Ga./Stratford Acadmey) tallied 14 points on 6-of-10 (60.0 percent) shooting. Senior Craig Hinton (Winston-Salem, N.C./East Forsyth) added a season-high tying 11 points, while pulling down five rebounds.

The Black and Gold forced UTA into 21 turnovers, scoring 28 points off of those miscues. The Mountaineers have now forced opponents into 20 or more turnovers in four games this season.

App State finished the game 24-of-54 (44.4 percent) from the field and 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) from deep. UTA shot 26-of-70 (37.1 percent) from the field and went 9-of-25 (36.0 percent) from downtown.

Erick Neal paced the Mavericks with a game-high 27 points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Appalachian State will now hit the road for two Sun Belt contests in Louisiana. The Mountaineers will take on Louisiana on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. EST and will also play at UL Monroe on Saturday at 3 p.m. EST.