WASHINGTON, D.C. – Seven players scored at least seven points as App State men's basketball rolled to 81-59 victory at Howard on Saturday afternoon.
The win improves the Mountaineers record to 6-4 on the season. In addition, the win also clinches App State's first non-conference winning record since the 2009-10 season.
Isaac Johnson paced the App State offense with a solid all-around game. He finished with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-16 (50.0 percent) shooting, 12 rebounds (five offensive) and a career-high tying seven assists. It marks his third double of the season and 15th of his career.
O'Showen Williams reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Justin Forrest and
Adrian Delph each reached double-figures with 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
Hunter Seacat and
James Lewis Jr. each had nine points and
Kendall Lewis added seven points for App State.
The Black and Gold have now held eight of its last nine opponents to 62 points or less.
In the first half, App State used back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson and Williams to build a 19-10 lead. Howard (1-10) cut the Mountaineer lead to three points at 29-26, before the Black and Gold scored eight straight points to push its lead back to 37-26. App State opened as large of a lead as 13 points in the opening half and took a 42-30 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the Mountaineers scored nine of the first 11 points to open a 51-33 edge. App State used a 7-0 spurt later in the half, capped by a trey from Delph, to build a commanding 60-37 lead with 14:21 remaining. The Mountaineers pushed their lead to as large of 29 points, en route to their victory.
The Black and Gold shot 45.5 percent (30-of-66) from the field and limited the Bison to just 32.8 percent (20-of-61) shooting.
App State also won the rebounding battle 43-35 and held a 36-16 edge in points in the paint.
The Mountaineers will shift their focus to Sun Belt play. App State opens conference action at South Alabama on Thursday at 8 p.m. EST, followed by a 3 p.m. contest at Troy on Dec. 21. Following its first two Sun Belt games, the Mountaineers will conclude non-conference play on Dec. 29 at NC State.
