BOONE, N.C. --
Justin Forrest drained a three-pointer in the final seconds to lead App State men's basketball past Georgia Southern 74-72 on Saturday evening.
A layup by Forrest with 41 seconds remaining cut the Eagles (9-6, 3-1 SBC) to 72-71. App State (9-6, 3-1 SBC) got a stop on Georgia Southern's next possession and called a timeout. Out of the timeout,
O'Showen Williams found Forrest who pump faked to his left and then drained a step back three at the top of the key with 0.9 seconds left to give the Mountaineers the 74-72 lead. A last second shot by Georgia Southern was no good giving the Mountaineers the two-point victory.
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In the first half, the Black and Gold scored six consecutive points to open a 17-9 lead. Georgia Southern stormed back to tie the game at 24-24 and closed the half on a 15-5 run to take a 39-29 advantage into the intermission.
App State scored the first four out of the locker room and cut its deficit to a point at 42-41 on a pair of free throws from
Kendall Lewis. Forrest knotted the score at 47-47 with a triple, but Georgia Southern countered with the next four points to take a 51-47 edge with 13:40 remaining. The Mountaineers answered right back with seven straight to open a 54-51 lead, only to see the Eagles jump back in front 58-54 with seven consecutive points.Â
Georgia Southern opened a seven-point lead at 71-64 with 3:15 to play. From there, the Black and Gold closed the game on a 10-1 run, capped by the clutch trey from Forrest for the win.
Forrest finished with a game-high 25 points, while adding five rebounds and four assists. Williams tallied 20 points, three rebounds and three assists. Forrest has now scored 20 or more points seven times this season and Williams poured in at least 20 points twice.
Lewis reached double figures with 11 points, while adding six rebounds.
Hunter Seacat had eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, while
Isaac Johnson chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds.
App State finished 24-of-56 (42.9 percent) from the field and went 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the free throw line. Georgia Southern went 24-of-60 (40.0 percent) from the field and 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
The Mountaineers won the rebounding battle 42-31.
App State concludes its three-game home stand on Monday against Louisiana at 7 p.m. on Make an Impact Monday. The first 500 fans through the door will receive a rally towel.Â
Season tickets andÂ
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 2019-20 season.
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