BOONE, N.C. -- App State men's basketball dropped a 73-57 home decision to Little Rock on Saturday afternoon.
Justin Forrest paced the Mountaineers (10-10, 4-5 SBC) with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-14 (50.0 percent) shooting and a 3-of-4 (75.0 percent) mark from deep, to go along with eight steals. His eight steals were just one shy of tying the single game program record of nine, set by D.J. Thompson during the 2006-07 season.
O'Showen Williams added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Isaac Johnson and
Adrian Delph chipped in with seven points apiece.
Little Rock (13-7, 7-2 SBC) scored the first six points of the game and built an 11-point lead at 15-4. App State stormed back and cut its deficit to a point at 19-18, but the Trojans countered with the next four points. Little Rock took a 37-29 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Trojans used an 9-0 run to take a 49-33 lead with 15:42 to go. The Mountaineers cut the Little Rock lead to 57-43 on a pair of free throws by Forrest and a layup by Williams. From there, the Trojans scored seven straight points to build their lead up to 21. App State made a late charge to cut the deficit to 14, but could get no closer.
The Black and Gold forced Little Rock into 18 turnovers and tied its season-high with 13 steals. The Mountaineers also held a 12-8 edge on the offensive glass.
Jovan Stulic and Nikola Maric had 18 points and 17 points, respectively, off the bench for the Trojans.
App State will embark on a three-game road trip, beginning on Jan. 25 at Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m.
