TROY, Ala. – App State men's basketball suffered a 71-62 road setback at Troy on Friday evening.
Donovan Gregory paced App State (12-6, 6-3 SBC) with a team high 15 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Michael Almonacy added 14 points off the bench, including a perfect 7-of-7 mark from the free throw line, to go along with five rebounds.
James Lewis Jr. had a near double-double with nine points and a team high nine rebounds, while
Justin Forrest finished with nine points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.
Troy (7-9, 2-5 SBC) came out of the gate strong and scored 10 of the first 13 points of the game to take an early 10-3 advantage. App State came right back with six of the next eight points to pull within three, but the Trojans answered with a 6-0 run to open a 18-9 lead.
Following a
Michael Eads basket, Troy opened an 11-point lead at 22-11. The Mountaineers countered with five straight points to pull within six at 22-16 and drew within three points at 28-25 on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Forrest with 4:25 left in the half. Troy responded with a 7-0 run and held the lead for the remainder of the half, taking a 37-30 edge into the intermission.
In the second half, App State used a 7-0 spurt to pull within a point at 44-43 with 13:29 left. The Trojans scored the next three points, but the Mountaineers used a jumper from Gregory to trim the Troy lead to 47-45 with 11:59 remaining.
The Trojans scored the next four points, only to see the Black and Gold answer with the next four points to cut the Trojan lead to 51-49 with just over eight minutes left. Troy expanded its lead back to seven points, but App State responded with four consecutive points to pull within three points at 56-53.
From there, Troy went on a 7-0 run to open a 10-point lead at 63-53. The Mountaineers pulled within six points at 63-57 with 1:00 to go, but could get no closer down the stretch.
Nick Stampley paced the Trojans with game highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds.
The two teams will conclude their weekend series on Saturday at 5 p.m. 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.
