BOONE, N.C. -- App State men's basketball fell to Louisiana 71-55 in its Sun Belt opener on Thursday evening in the Holmes Convocation Center.
Adrian Delph drained five 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 17 points, while adding seven rebounds.
CJ Huntley also reached double figures with 13 points, to go along with four rebounds.
Michael Almonacy had eight points and a season-best six assists.
James Lewis Jr. pulled down a team-high eight rebounds (five offensive) and added a pair of steals.
Louisiana (6-5, 1-0 SBC) scored the first five points of the game and jumped out to a 12-3 lead. Following a basket from
RJ Duhart, the Ragin' Cajuns used a 6-0 spurt to push their lead to 27-9. Louisiana took a 43-19 lead into the break.
App State (6-8, 0-1 SBC) came out of the locker room strong and scored the first 11 points to pull within 13 at 43-30. The Ragin' Cajuns pushed their lead back to 18 points, but Huntley knocked down a trey to pull the Mountaineers within 48-33 with 13:51 to play. Trailing 57-37, App State used back-to-back threes from Huntley and Almonacy to pull within 14 points. The Mountaineers trimmed the Louisiana lead to 13 points down the stretch, but could get no closer.
Theo Akwuba had a double-double for Louisiana with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Jordan Brown added 16 points and eight rebounds.
App State will conclude its opening weekend of Sun Belt play on Saturday by hosting ULM. Tip is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN+. Tickets for the 2021-22 season are on sale and can be purchased byÂ
clicking here.
