Mountaineers Welcome Louisiana to Holmes Center on Thursday

BOONE, N.C. -- After playing its last three contests on the road, Appalachian State men's basketball will return to the Holmes Center on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. against Louisiana on Heroes Day. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard across the Appalachian IMG Sports Network.

HEROES DAY
Thursday's contest is Heroes Day. All local veterans and active military, law enforcement, fire fighters, EMTs and other first responders will get free admission with a valid I.D. A $10 ticket will be available for immediate family members

TICKETS
Single game tickets are on sale and can be purchased by clicking here or by contacting the Appalachian State ticket office at 828-262-2079.

THE SERIES

• This will be the ninth all-time meeting between the two schools.
• Louisiana has won all eight previous meetings, including a 78-45 win in Lafayette last season.

LAST TIME OUT

• The Mountaineers topped Little Rock on Saturday 77-73. 
• Ronshad Shabazz paced the Black and Gold with a game-high 21 points, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. He also moved into fourth place in program history in field goals made, passing Darryl Robinson (638) with a three-pointer at the 6:04 mark of the second half.
• Justin Forrest added 18 points, five assists and a steal.  Off the bench, Bennett Holley poured in a season-high tying 12 points to go along with six rebounds. Tyrell Johnson chipped in with nine points and five rebounds and O'Showen Williams added seven points and a season-high tying four assists.
• Little Rock jumped out to an early 11-4 lead, only to see App State respond with and 10-2 run to jump in front 14-13. The Black and Gold pushed its lead to as large as eight points in the opening half at 34-26 and took a 36-31 advantage into the intermission. In the second half, the Mountaineers opened up a double digit lead at 50-40 on a jumper from Johnson with 14:17 remaining. Little Rock responded with eight of the next 10 points to cut the App State lead to 52-48. Later in the half, the Black and Gold pushed its lead to 12 points at 67-55 with 4:56 to play. The Trojans answered with a 8-1 spurt to pull within 68-63 with just under three minutes remaining. Little Rock pulled to within three points at 70-67, before the Mountaineers converted on five consecutive free throws to extend their lead back to 75-67 with 57 seconds left.  The Trojans cut the Black and Gold lead to within four points at 77-73 and forced a Mountaineer turnover with 19 seconds left. Little Rock's Rayjon Tucker shot a three-pointer with eight seconds left that was no good and Shabazz grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock to close out the victory.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS

• App State enters play at 6-14 on the season and 1-6 in Sun Belt play.
• Justin Forrest has reached double figures in the scoring department in four straight games, including two contests of at least 20 points...During that stretch, he is averaging 18.8 points and shooting 23-of-26 (88.5 percent) from the free throw line.
• The Mountaineer bench has scored 27 or more points in its last five games and is averaging 28.8 points during that span.
• Bennett Holley is averaging 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in his last three games, while Tyrell Johnson is averaging 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in his last five games.
• Isaac Johnson leads the league in rebounding and ranks 51st in the nation, averaging 8.8 rebounds per game. His 176 total rebounds also ranks 58th in the country. Johnson has tallied seven or more rebounds in 16 games this season, including 14 of the last 16 contests. He has reached double figures in the rebounding department eight times this season.

SCOUTING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS

• Louisiana won its second straight and third game in four tries on Saturday, topping Troy 86-81 to improve to 13-7 on the season and 4-3 in the Sun Belt.
• JaKeenan Gant tallied a double-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Marcus Stroman added 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Jerekius Davis and P.J. Hardy had 14 and 13 points, respectively.
• Gant was named Sun Belt Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 24.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals.
• Gant ranks second in the Sun Belt in scoring (20.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg), while leading the league in blocks (58). Stroman has dished out a league leading 136 assists this season.