ATLANTA, Ga. –
Michael Almonacy scored a career best 24 points, but App State men's basketball dropped an 85-71 road contest at Georgia State on Tuesday.
The game served as a make-up from a postponed series between the Panthers and Mountaineers that was originally scheduled for Feb. 5 and Feb. 6. The second game will not be made up.
Almonacy went 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from deep, scoring 21 of his 24 points in the second half. He added six rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists. His 24-point output betters his previous career high of 21 set against Bowling Green earlier this season.
Justin Forrest added 13 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Adrian Delph also had 13 points and
James Lewis Jr. chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.
An early 3-pointer from Delph at the 18:18 mark of the opening half gave App State (12-10, 6-7 SBC) an early 5-4 edge. Georgia State (12-5, 6-4 SBC) answered with a 9-2 spurt to open a 13-7 advantage. The Panthers pushed their lead to 17-9, before App State stormed back with an 11-4 run to pull within a point at 21-20 halfway through the opening frame. The Panthers then used a 10-0 spurt to build a 34-23 edge and took a 41-31 lead into the intermission.
The Mountaineers scored eight of the first 10 points to begin the second half to pull within four points at 43-39. The Panthers came right back with a 7-0 run to extend their lead back to 11 points at 50-39 with 16:43 to go. Georgia State extended its lead to 15 points, but App State chipped away and pulled within 66-58 on an Almonacy triple with 6:19 to play. The Panthers responded with seven straight points to push their lead back to 15 and put the game away.
Kane Williams paced Georgia State with a game high 24 points. Jalen Thomas added 22 points and eight rebounds.
App State will conclude the regular season on Friday and Saturday at Georgia Southern. Friday's tip is set for 6 p.m. and Saturday's is scheduled for 3 p.m. Both contests can be seen on ESPN+ and heard across 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 season sponsor.
