BOONE, N.C. – In a physical contest at the Holmes Convocation Center that saw 41 fouls between the two teams, the App State Mountaineers (2-2) pulled away late to secure a 12-point victory over the Queens Royals (2-3) on Tuesday. The two teams combined to shoot 43 free throws in the game, but a late spurt spearheaded by
Myles Tate and
CJ Huntley led to a gritty 65-53 Mountaineer win.
In what was his 126th career game in an App State uniform, Huntley tallied more points than he ever has before, scoring a career-high 27 on 10-17 from the field. Huntley bested his previous career-high of 22 points, which came last December against Queens. It was his third career 20-point contest.
The Mountaineer defense was stellar against the Royals, keeping them to just six made threes on 37 attempts, good for a 16 percent mark. Queens came to Boone having made at least eight threes in every contest thus far, but flying hands and strong closeouts led to a season-worst mark. Additionally, the staunch Mountaineer defense held Queens to a season-low 53 points.
With the win, head coach
Dustin Kerns moved to 99 wins at App State. If he gets one more in the next three games, he will become the third-fastest head coach in program history to reach 100 career wins with the Mountaineers.
How it Happened
It was a sluggish start for both teams in this hard-fought affair as neither team cracked the scoreboard for the first 3:31 of the game. Huntley's first of 27 points broke the stalemate at the 16:29 mark, ending a stretch of 14 consecutive missed shots to open the game.
A Tate layup pushed the Mountaineers ahead by four with just under 16 minutes to play, but two quick baskets from Queens tied the contest at four apiece by the under-16 break. The Mountaineers had trouble getting shots over Malcolm Wilson, who came into the game as the nation's leading shot blocker, as he tallied four blocks in the first four minutes.
The Royals took their first lead of the game by the 13:18 mark as Yoav Berman and Leo Colimerio found the basket for their first points. A slick hook shot from
Jalil Beaubrun tied the contest at eight as play hit the second media timeout. Beaubrun's basket marked his first home basket as a Mountaineer.
Despite a basket from Tate and a pair of free throws from Beaubrun, Queens used a basket from Wilson and a three by Chris Ashby to go up by four points by the 8:46 mark. The Mountaineers saw their deficit grow to as large as five by the final media timeout, which would be the Royals' largest lead of the night.
With the deficit at five and Beaubrun on the bench with three personal fouls, App State found its footing late in the second half. A pair of Huntley freebies and a Tate three tied the game at 22 apiece with 3:09 to play in the first half before
Michael Marcus Jr.'s first points gave the Mountaineers the lead back at 24-22.
After a Huntley free throw extended the App State lead to three with one minute to play, Tate took over down the stretch, accounting for the final six points of the half. A layup in the paint and a long three-pointer at the buzzer off a broken play sank the hearts of Royal fans and the Mountaineers took their largest lead of the half into the locker room.
Tate's long three capped off what was a 14-2 run to end the half. App State kept the Royals to just 1-9 shooting during the run while shooting 4-4 from the field.
The two teams combined for just 22 made field goals on 66 attempts in the opening frame and three made threes on 24 attempts. However, Huntley and Tate stabilized the fray with 25 points combined to lead the attack and find momentum heading into the final period.
Huntley's first three of the game rained home in the early stages of the second half to give App State a 10-point lead by the 19:18 mark, but a brief 6-2 run from Queens brought the advantage back to just six with 16 minutes to play.
App State recomposed and stymied the Royals over the next three minutes to go back ahead by 12.
Jackson Threadgill's first basket of the contest pushed the Mountaineers over the 40-point mark before Huntley laid in his 17th point of the game to get to that lead.
Keeping in the game, Queens kept the Mountaineers to just three points in the next three minutes, allowing it to go on a 12-3 run to close the gap to just four by the 11:18 mark. Three straight three-pointers from Asjon Anderson, Kalib Matthews and Jaxon Pollard put a light in the Royals' flame to close the gap.
After a brief break, a Beaubrun bucket plus a free throw followed by a thunderous dunk from Huntley extended the Mountaineer advantage back to nine by the 7:36 mark. Huntley's dunk with nine minutes to play gave him 22 for the evening, tying his career high.
A Colimerio basket with six minutes to play shrunk the App State lead back to six, but a Tate free throw and a Threadgill steal and slam ignited the App State crowd and pushed the lead back to 12 by the final media break of the game. The run continued with Huntley's third three of the half off some pretty ball movement as the App State advantage grew to 15.
The Royals made up some ground in the fleeting moments of the game, but it was Tate's prowess at the free-throw line that sealed the deal and led the Mountaineers to their second win of the year. Huntley and Tate accounted for 46 of the Mountaineers' 65 points in the game.
Even with a sluggish start, App State shot 47 percent from the field, which included a 61 percent clip in the second half. The Royals, who pride themselves on shooting and making threes, were held to just 6-27 from three and 32 percent from the field. It was a dominant outing defensively for the Mountaineers to secure Kerns' 99th win as the App State head coach.
Top Performers
A career day from
CJ Huntley highlighted the win as he poured in 27 points on 10-17 shooting. As it stands, Huntley's 27 points is the third-most scored in a game by a Sun Belt player this season.
Myles Tate was also stellar against the Royals, tallying 19 points while also stuffing the stat sheet with a season-high eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Jalil Beaubrun and
Jackson Threadgill also played well as the two combined for 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Up Next
Continuing a stretch of seven consecutive games played in the state of North Carolina, the Mountaineers will play host to the William & Mary Tribe on Sunday in what will be the first meeting between the two programs. Tipoff is slated to start at 1 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
