WILMINGTON, N.C. – On the heels of a close win against Sam Houston on Wednesday, the App State Mountaineers (5-2) led for 35 minutes on Friday and defeated the Colgate Raiders (2-5) in dominant fashion, 72-50. With the win, the Mountaineers ran their win streak to four games. The 22-point win over the Raiders marked the Mountaineers' largest win over a Division I opponent this season.
It was a back-and-forth contest to start the game, but when the Raiders led 9-8 with 15:14 left to play in the opening frame, App State went on an extended 20-0 run to take command of the contest. The Mountaineers never let their advantage get below 10 points for the remainder of the game. This run included 11 straight points from
Myles Tate, who finished the contest with 15 points.
As has been a trend during App State's four-game win streak, defense proved to be the deciding factor in the win. The Mountaineers held Colgate to just 37 percent shooting from the field and 29 percent from three. It's the sixth straight contest that App State has held its opponent below 30 percent from three. In fact, over the last six games, the Mountaineers are keeping their opponents to just 38-162 (23%) from the long line.
The Mountaineers were clearly the more physical team in Friday's matchup, outrebounding Colgate 35-27 and outscoring the Raiders 36-20 in the paint. Additionally, App State turned 10 Colgate turnovers into 23 points while scoring 12 fastbreak points. App State also made 10 more 3-pointers against the Raiders, marking its third game of the year with at least 10 made threes.
How it Happened
After taking the Thanksgiving holiday off, Colgate started the scoring in the first game of day three at the Live Oak Bank Classic tallying the first four points of the game. The Mountaineers started slow, missing their first three shots. That would be the only stretch in the game in which App State missed three consecutive shots.
CJ Huntley put the Mountaineers on the scoreboard with a hook shot in the paint then Tate drilled his first of four 3-pointers to give App State its first lead of the game at 5-4. The Raiders took a brief two-point lead at the 16:24 mark, but
Jalil Beaubrun rang home a three from the corner to put App State ahead by the first media stoppage.
Out of the break, Colgate took a brief lead back thanks to Jalen Cox's jumper, but that would be the last points the Raiders scored for the next five minutes of play. The Mountaineers scored the game's next 20 points to take a 19-point lead by the 10:06 mark.
The large run started on the effort of
Luke Wilson on the offensive glass as he put back a
Jackson Threadgill miss for his first points. Then, Huntley tallied a basket in the paint and Tate sank three consecutive 3-pointers to balloon App State ahead by 12. An
Anthony Alston steal followed by Tate's 11th consecutive points sent action to the under-12 timeout with the Mountaineers ahead by 14.
App State didn't let the stoppage stop its run as
Michael Marcus Jr. recorded a put-back layup to give him his first basket of the contest. The Mountaineer defense forced a Colgate turnover and Alston capped off the 20-0 Mountaineer run with a three in the corner, his first long ball of the game.
During the run, App State shot an incredible 80 percent from the field and forced four straight misses and four turnovers from Colgate. The Raiders finally ended the run with a Sam Wright basket, but App State had taken a commanding 19-point advantage.
Following the under-eight media timeout, the Mountaineers continued to light the nets on fire as Threadgill and
Dior Conners each buried threes. Colgate trimmed its deficit to 14 by the 4:03 mark, but back-to-back baskets from Wilson and Huntley put the Mountaineers back in front by 18 with two minutes to play.
Threadgill's second bucket of the first half gave the Mountaineers their final first-half tally of 40 points and when the buzzer sounded, App State led 40-25. The Mountaineers buried eight first-half 3-pointers at a 42 percent clip and shot 50 percent overall. Defensively, the Mountaineers forced six Raider turnovers and turned those into 16 points on the offensive end.
Colgate came out of the halftime break and trimmed the lead to just 10 points by the 15:32 mark, outscoring the Mountaineers by five during that stretch. The Raiders made five of their first seven shots after halftime to pull closer, but the Mountaineers still held a 12-point lead as play continued to the under-16 timeout.
Alston's second made three of the game shot the App State lead back up to 15 by the 14:39 mark and then his second basket of the second half put the Mountaineers up 17 with 13 minutes to go. A Nicolas Louis-Jacques three trimmed Colgate's deficit to 14 by the under-12, but Huntley's basket plus the harm put App State ahead by 17 points yet again.
Continuing to apply offensive pressure, Tate connected with Huntley on a backdoor layup to give him his ninth assist of the contest and put the Mountaineers ahead 59-44 with eight minutes to go. The two teams then endured a four-minute scoreless stretch before a Beaubrun hook shot pushed App State over 60 points by the 5:16 mark.
The Mountaineers extended their advantage up over 20 points with three minutes to play. Huntley connected on a hook shot to give him 17 points with 3:20 to go before a Threadgill steal and slam gave the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game to that point.
Capping off a stellar performance, the Mountaineers broke the Colgate press with a long pass from Threadgill that found Beaubrun's hands in the deep post. Beaubrun pumped once and dribbled once before rising up for a vicious two-handed slam to give him a season-high 11 points. Marcus hit a driving layup with two seconds to play, giving the Mountaineers a 22-point victory over Colgate.
With the win, App State moved to 2-0 at the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic, making it the only team thus far to be undefeated in the four-team field.
Top Performers
Three Mountaineers eclipsed double figures in the 22-point game.
CJ Huntley led the team, scoring 17 points, marking his fifth double-digit scoring game in his last six outings.
Myles Tate was on triple-double watch all game as he finished with 15 points, a game-high nine assists and seven rebounds. Tate was all over the floor in the first half, scoring 14 of his 15 points in the opening stanza.
Jalil Beaubrun recorded his best game in an App State uniform, scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds. Eight of his 11 points came in the second half.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will cap off play at the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic with a matchup against the tournament host UNCW on Saturday. It will mark the second consecutive season in which the Mountaineers and Seahawks will meet. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and can be streamed on FloCollege.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
