Men's Basketball Falls in Closing Seconds at Troy

TROY, Ala. -- Senior Griffin Kinney (Delaware, Ohio/Fork Union Military Academy) tallied his first double-double of the season, but the Appalachian State men's basketball team fell in the closing seconds at Troy 81-79 on Monday evening.

Kinney finished with 12 points including a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the free throw line, and a career-high 12 rebounds (five offensive). It marks the sixth double-double of his career.

Junior Ronshad Shabazz (Raleigh, N.C./Huntington Prep) finished with a game-high 23 points for App State (8-13, 3-5 SBC), to go along with three rebounds and five assists. Freshman Justin Forrest (Decatur, Ga./Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy) added 15 points.

Off the bench, sophomore O'Showen Williams (Macon, Ga./Stratford Academy) finished with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

For Troy (9-11, 3-4 SBC), Wesley Person scored a team-high 16 points. Kevin Baker added 14 points and Jordon Varnado posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Alex Hicks also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Troy would build its largest lead of the game at 72-62 with 4:14 to play. App State would counter with the next six points to trim the Trojan lead to 72-68 with 2:35 remaining.
 
The Trojans would get a pair of free throws from Person, but the Black and Gold came right back with a trey from Williams to pull within three points at 74-71 with 1:41 left.
 
But Troy had an answer, getting a triple from Person to go back up by six points. Following a hoop by Forrest, App State would foul Baker, who split a pair of free throws, giving the Trojans a 78-73 edge with 48 seconds remaining.
 
Kinney would respond with a layup to trim the deficit to three points. The Apps would force a turnover on the ensuing inbound and Williams converted on a layup to cut Troy's lead to 78-77 with 29 seconds left.
 
The Black and Gold fouled on the ensuing inbound and Hicks split a pair of free throws. Forrest would score on a layup to tie the game with nine seconds left, but Varnado was able to convert a basket with 2.7 seconds left to give the Trojans a 81-79 lead.
 
A desperation three from Williams was no good giving Troy the win.

Troy was able to maintain the lead in the early going and built a seven-point lead at 29-22 with just over seven minutes left in the first half.
 
The Black and Gold would respond with a 9-1 run, capped off by a trey from junior Bennett Holley (Roanoke, Va./North Cross), to take a 31-30 lead with 4:05 remaining in the opening stanza. The lead would change hands four times down the stretch of the first half and the Mountaineers took a 38-35 advantage into the intermission.

App State finished 26-of-68 (38.2 percent) from the field and went 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line. Troy shot 30-of-58 (51.7 percent) from the field and went 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

Appalachian won the rebounding battle 39-38, including a 16-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Mountaineers will return to action on Thursday, as they return to the Holmes Center and take on Little Rock at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available for all remaining Appalachian State men's and women's home basketball 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.).