BOONE, N.C. -- App State men's basketball moved into first place in the Sun Belt East Division with an 80-71 victory over Georgia State on Friday evening.
The Mountaineers improve to 11-5 on the season and 5-2 in Sun Belt play. The victory gives the Black and Gold a half a game lead atop the Sun Belt East Division standings over Coastal Carolina. Georgia State drops to 8-3 overall and 2-2 in Sun Belt play.
App State opened a 49-44 lead on a layup from
James Lewis Jr. with 14:59 left in the contest. The Panthers countered with a 6-0 run to jump back in front by a point, only to see the Mountaineers respond with five straight points to take a 54-50 lead with just over 11 minutes to play.
Georgia State pulled within a point three times and opened a 64-61 edge with 5:29 remaining. App State used four straight points from
Justin Forrest to retake the lead, but the Panthers took a 67-66 lead with 4:02 left to play.
From there, App State went on an 8-0 run to build a seven-point lead at 73-66. The Panthers pulled within four points at 75-71 with 54 seconds remaining, but the Black and Gold held the Panthers scoreless the rest of the way and used a free throw from Lewis Jr. and four free throws from
Michael Almonacy in the final minute to put the game away.
Georgia State broke an early 10-10 tie with a 7-2 run to take a 17-12 advantage. After the Mountaineers pulled within a point at 21-20, the Panthers answered with six consecutive points to take a 27-20 lead. The Black and Gold came right back with a 12-4 run to open a 32-31 lead and used a 3-pointer from Almonacy in the closing seconds of the first half to take a 37-35 lead into the intermission.
Forrest paced the Mountaineers with a season best 23 points on 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) shooting, while adding three rebounds and a season high four steals.
Adrian Delph added 17 points and four rebounds and
Donovan Gregory had 13 points, four rebounds and a game high four assists.
Off the bench, Almonacy drained a trio of 3-pointers to finish with 13 points, to go along with three assists.
As a team, the Mountaineers shot 52.0 percent (26-of-50) from the field, marking the fifth time the Mountaineers have shot 50.0 percent or better from the field.
In addition, App State forced Georgia State into 16 turnovers and posted 11 steals. The 11 steals are tied for the second most in a single game this season for the Black and Gold.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 4 p.m. to conclude their weekend series on ESPN+ and the Appalachian Sports Network from Learfield IMG College.
App State men's basketball would like to thank the Law Offices of Timothy Welborn as its 2020-21 season sponsor.
