Mountaineers Suffer 71-58 Setback to Georgia State

BOONE, N.C. -- The Appalachian State men's basketball team fell for the first time all season at home by a 71-58 score on Thursday evening inside the Holmes Center.

Sophomore Isaac Johnson (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) had a near double-double with nine points, a team-high 10 rebounds and a career-high tying five assists. Johnson has now recorded double digit rebounds in six games on the season.

Junior Ronshad Shabazz (Raleigh, N.C./Huntington Prep) tallied a team-high 15 points, three rebounds and two steals. Junior Tyrell Johnson (Atlanta, Ga./Stephenson) added 10 points and a season-high tying seven rebounds for the Mountaineers (8-10, 3-2 SBC).

Jeff Thomas led five Georgia State (12-6, 3-2 SBC) players in double figures with a game-high 22 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Devin Mitchell had 13 points and D'Marcus Simonds, Jordan Session and Isaiah Williams each had 11 points.

In the early going, Georgia State used a 9-0 run to open an early 16-10 lead.
 
The Panthers would expand their lead thanks to a 10-0 run and built a 26-13 advantage with 7:26 left in the first half.
 
After the Mountaineers answered with a 12-4 run to trim the deficit to four points, the Panthers closed the opening half with nine straight points to take a 39-26 lead into the intermission.
 
In the second half, the Black and Gold came out of the locker room and scored the first eight points to cut the Georgia State lead to 39-34.
 
The Panthers countered with eight of the next nine points to push their lead back to 48-35 with 11:10 to play in the game. The Black and Gold came right back with the next seven points to pull within six at 48-42.
 
From there, Georgia State would slowly build its lead back to 14 points at 56-42 with 6:41 left in the game. The Black and Gold were able to trim the deficit to nine points, but could get no closer.

App State went 21-of-59 (35.6 percent) from the field and 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) on three-pointers. The Panthers shot 27-of-59 (47.5 percent) from the field and went 6-of-15 (40.0 percent) from deep.

The Apps held a 40-34 edge in rebounding, including an 11-5 mark on the offensive glass.

Appalachian State will play next on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center against Georgia Southern. The Mountaineers will be celebrating Alumni Day during both the men's and women's contest. Any App State returning alumni can take advantage of a special deal which includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four drinks for $40. Fans can click here and use the promo code "ALUM4" to advantage of this offer. In addition, Saturday's contest is also "Black Saturday". The Mountaineers will be wearing their black uniforms and all fans in attendance are encouraged to wear black.