App State Falls to Georgia State

BOONE, N.C. -- Adrian Delph tallied the first double-double of his career, but App State men's basketball dropped a 69-60 contest to Georgia State on Thursday evening.

Delph finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) shooting, to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds (four offensive). He added a pair of assists and a career-high tying three steals. He is now the fifth different Mountaineer to post a double-double this season, joining Isaac Johnson, Justin Forrest, Kendall Lewis and James Lewis Jr.

O'Showen Williams added 12 points, two assists and two steals, while Forrest reached double figures in scoring for the seventh consecutive game with 10 points. Hunter Seacat chipped in with seven points and a career-high tying 10 rebounds (five offensive).

Lewis added seven points and five rebounds and Donovan Gregory tallied six points and six rebounds off the bench.

After Delph made a free throw to knot the score at 3-3, the Panthers (10-4, 3-0 SBC) went on a 8-1 run to open a 11-4 edge. Georgia State pushed its lead to 13 points at 19-6, before App State (8-6, 2-1 SBC) responded with back-to-back threes from Delph and Williams to pull within seven at 19-12. The Panthers closed the opening half on a 9-0 run and took a 40-23 lead into the break.

In the second stanza, the Black and Gold used an 8-0 spurt to pull within 57-46 with just over 10 minutes remaining. The Panthers pushed their lead back to as large as 14, but App State scored six straight points to pull within 64-57 with 1:35 to play. From there, Georgia State made five free throws down the stretch to hold off the Mountaineer charge.

App State won the rebounding battle 45-37, including 17-8 on the offensive glass. The Mountaineers' 45 team rebounds were just one shy of its season-high of 46 set against UNCG on Nov. 18. In addition, the 17 offensive rebounds are the second most for App State, trailing only a 20-rebound effort on the offensive glass against St. Andrews on Dec. 3.

Jalen Thomas finished with 14 points off the bench to lead Georgia State. Justin Roberts had 13 points and Corey Allen and Joe Jones III each tallied 11 points.

The Mountaineers will have a quick turnaround and return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Georgia Southern. The contest against the Eagles will serve as Black Saturday and all fans who wear black to the game will receive $5 off of admission. Season tickets and single game tickets for the 2019-20 season are on sale and can be purchased by calling the App State ticket office at 828-262-2079.
 
App State men's basketball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan as its presenting sponsor for the season.