JONESBORO, Ark. – App State men's basketball fell 62-60 in its regular season finale at Arkansas State on Friday evening.
The Mountaineers see their regular season conclude with an 18-13 overall record and 12-6 mark in Sun Belt play. App State's 12 conference victories are the most for the program since joining the league in 2014-15 and since the 2009-10 season, when the Black and Gold won 13 Southern Conference games.
App State earned a bye in the First Round in the Sun Belt Tournament and will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, pending the outcome of other conference games on Friday evening.
After leading by four at the half, Arkansas State (17-10, 8-7 SBC) scored the first nine points out of the locker room to open a 39-34 lead. App State answered with eight straight points to regain the lead and opened a 56-53 advantage with 6:39 to play.
The Red Wolves came right back with a 7-0 run to open a 60-56 edge with 1:34 to play.
James Lewis Jr. converted on a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left to pull App State within two, but Arkansas State pushed its lead back to four with a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining.
Justin Forrest drew a foul on the Mountaineers next possession and made both of his free throws to cut the App State deficit to 62-60 with 10 seconds remaining.
The Mountaineers fouled on the ensuing play and Marquis Eaton missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Adrian Delph grabbed the rebound and his 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good, giving the Red Wolves the victory.
App State broke an early 2-2 tie with a 11-1 run, capped by a three from Forrest, to open a 13-3 lead just over four minutes into the game. Arkansas State countered with six straight points to pull within 13-9, but the Mountaineers pushed their lead to 12 points at 28-16 with 7:01 left in the opening half. The Red Wolves pulled within two late in the half, but the Mountaineers held the lead and took a 34-30 edge into the break.
Delph paced the Mountaineers with 19 points, going 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) on 3-pointers. He added seven rebounds.
Forrest went 8-of-10 (80.0 percent) from the free throw line and finished with 15 points, to go along with five rebounds. Lewis Jr. also reached double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 (80.0 percent) shooting and six rebounds.
The Mountaineers shot 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the free throw line and held a slim 35-34 edge in the rebounding battle.
