SAN MARCOS, Tex. – App State men's basketball erased a 17-point deficit, but fell in a 68-66 thriller on Thursday evening at Texas State.
The Mountaineers (14-10, 8-3 SBC) trailed 35-18 with 5:20 left in the opening half and came all the way back to tie the score at 60-60 with 5:39 to play, as
Donovan Gregory capped a 10-0 run with a jumper. Texas State (14-6, 5-3 SBC) answered on its next possession with a basket, but
Adrian Delph tied the game at 62-62 with a pair of free throws with 5:04 remaining.
The Bobcats took the lead on a basket from Mason Harrell with 4:57 left. App State used a free throw from Gregory to pull within a point at the 4:42 mark, but the Bobcats answered with four straight points to extend their lead to 68-63 with 3:36 left.
The Mountaineers pulled within four on a free throw from
James Lewis Jr. and then trimmed the Texas State lead to two points at 68-66 with 1:52 left to play. App State got a defensive stop but both Delph and Gregory were unable to convert on a pair of shots, with Texas State grabbing the rebound.
Harrell missed a jumper with 31 seconds left and the Mountaineers immediately forced a Bobcat turnover off the offensive rebound.
Justin Forrest was then fouled behind the 3-point line with 12 seconds left, but was unable to convert the free throws. App State fouled Texas State and Shelby Adams missed the front end of a one-and-one and with four seconds left. Forrest grabbed the rebound with App State trailing by two, but his desperation attempt at the buzzer was no good.
A basket by
Michael Eads Jr. in the early going gave App State a 7-3 edge. Texas State answered with a 10-0 run to jump in front 13-7. The Bobcats pushed their lead to 22-13, before a trey from Delph brought App State within six at 22-16. From there, Texas State scored 13 of the next 15 points to open its largest lead of the game at 17 points. App State cut into the Bobcat lead and trailed 41-29 at the break.
Delph led the Mountaineers with 22 points, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. It marks his seventh game this season in which he has scored 20 or more points, including five in Sun Belt play.
Gregory scored all 17 of his points in the second half, finishing 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the field. He added six rebounds and a pair of assists. Lewis Jr. had a near double-double with eight points and nine rebounds (six offensive).
App State held a 33-32 edge in rebounding, including a 12-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Mountaineers conclude their trip to Texas on Saturday with a 6 p.m. contest at UT Arlington on ESPN+.
