Balanced Attack Leads Mountaineers Past Coastal Carolina

BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State men's basketball shot 53.7 percent from the field and saw six players score eight or more points in a 88-79 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers (9-16, 4-8 SBC) went 29-of-54 from the field, including a 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) clip in the second half. It marked the seventh time this season the Black and Gold have shot 50.0 percent or better from the field. In addition, App State limited Coastal Carolina (12-12, 6-6 SBC) to just 38.2 percent (26-of-68) shooting and 22.7 percent (5-of-22) shooting from beyond the arc. The Chanticleers 38.2 percent shooting mark is the second lowest by a Mountaineer opponent this season.

Ronshad Shabazz paced the balanced Mountaineer attack with a team-high 20 points on 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) shooting and a 3-of-6 (50.0 percent) mark from beyond the arc.

Justin Forrest added 18 points, including a season-high tying nine made free throws, and eight rebounds. Isaac Johnson chipped in with 14 points and a game-high tying eight rebounds and Adrian Delph had 11 points and five rebounds. Tyrell Johnson also reached double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a reserve role.

Hunter Seacat chipped in with eight points, four rebounds and three blocks.

The Chanticleers jumped out to an early 16-10 lead, but the Mountaineers answered with 12 of the next 14 points to take a 22-18 lead with 5:28 left in the opening half. App State pushed its lead to 26-20, but a late run by Coastal Carolina gave them 32-30 lead at the break.

In the second half, the Black and Gold scored the first 10 points to take a 40-32 advantage. Coastal Carolina trimmed the Mountaineer lead to two points at 52-50, before App State responded with an 8-0 run to open a 60-50 edge with 10:18 left in the contest.

The Chanticleers cut the Mountaineer lead back to 64-59, but App State scored the next five points to open a 69-59 advantage with 7:10 to go. App State continued to pull away and opened its largest lead of the contest at 14 points at 79-65 on a three-pointer from Delph. The Chanticleers would pull within eight points late, but could get no closer the rest of the way.

App State won the rebounding battle 40-35.

Appalachian State will continue its home stand on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. against Georgia State. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard across the Appalachian Sports Network from IMG Learfield College. 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.