BOONE, N.C. – On a night that saw 15 players find the bottom of the net, the App State Mountaineers (1-1) claimed their first win of the season as they defeated the St. Andrews Knights (0-2) 108-54 on Wednesday. App State's 108 points marked the 26th-highest output in program history and the seventh time the Mountaineers have scored 100 points under Kerns.
Fifteen players saw the floor on Wednesday and all 15 scored. Leading the charge was
Michael Marcus Jr., who tallied his first career double-double, as he tallied a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Overall, four players reached double-figures, including
Jamil Muttilib and
Ben Ezeagu's first game with at least 10 points as a Mountaineer.
The Mountaineers played suffocating defense against the Knights, holding Randy Hernandez's squad to a 28 percent mark from the floor, while also blocking 13 shots. Four players tallied two blocks or more in the contest.
Crisp ball movement helped guide the Mountaineers to their first win as they tallied 23 assists, a mark they reached just once last year. 12 different players recorded at least one assist with
Luke Wilson and
Jason Clarke Jr. leading the team with four apiece. App State also took care of the basketball in the win, turning the ball over just six times.
How it Happened
After taking the floor following the Mountaineer women's first win of the season, the men started hot from the floor, nailing three of their first five shots to take an early 12-0 lead just three minutes into the game. Muttilib's first three-pointer as a Mountaineer sparked the run and
Alonzo Dodd's activity defensively capped it off as he hit a pair of free throws off a steal.
St. Andrews finally got on the board by the 16:54 mark, but it was more Mountaineer pressure as
CJ Huntley notched his ninth point of the game before an Ezeagu jumper pushed the lead back to 12.
App State's lead grew to 18 by the under-12 timeout as Marcus' strong performance got started with three buckets over a two-minute stretch. A powerful slam dunk from
Luke Wilson ballooned the lead to 20 before the Knights quelled the flame with a basket at the 11:52 mark.
Baskets apiece from Wilson and
Myles Tate sent the Mountaineer advantage to 25 by the under-eight timeout. Huntley's first-half high 15th point rattled home at the 8:35 mark and two more free throws from Marcus gave App State its largest lead of the half at 28 with seven minutes to play.
The Knights tallied two baskets to calm the ferocious App State attack, but a block off the backboard by Ezeagu kick-started a fast break opportunity that led to an alley-oop dunk by Marcus off a perfect feed from
Anthony Alston that kept the lead at 26 as the first half drew to a close.
Marcus tallied four more points in the frame, but it was Clarke's layup with eight seconds to play that put a bow on the first 20 minutes. The driving layup by the Silver Spring, Md., native was his first collegiate basket. When the buzzer sounded, the Mountaineers claimed a 27-point lead over the Knights.
Huntley's aggressiveness down low led to eight free throw attempts in the first half, culminating in 15 points to lead the team. Marcus followed closely behind with 12 while Muttilib and Ezeagu finished the half with six apiece.
It was more of the same to begin the second half for App State as they scored 16 consecutive points to take a 44-point lead by the 15:25 mark.
Jackson Threadgill rocked the rim on multiple occasions during the Mountaineers' 16-0 run, helping bring the Mountaineer faithful to its feet.
The Knights retaliated with a basket to end the run with just over 15 minutes to play, but
Dior Conners answered right back with a three from the right wing to push the lead back to 44. Then, Ezeagu tallied four straight points to push the advantage to 45. Ezeagu played great in his 21 minutes, scoring 12 points and pulling in nine rebounds.
Conners' second three of the night followed by Alston's second trey sent the Mountaineer lead up to 45 once again after the Knights hit a shot. Two free throws from Dodd pushed App State over 90 points by the 8:18 mark, which allowed Coach Kerns to empty his bench.
Jonah Long,
Cameron O'Kelley and
Luke Ledford saw the floor over the final five minutes of play and became the 13th, 14th and 15th Mountaineers to score in the game. O'Kelley's first points of the game gave App State 99 points before
Will Coble's floating jump shot pushed the Mountaineers over the century mark.
A late Knight basket with a minute to play gave them their final score of 54, but a three from the corner by Long finished off the night as the Mountaineers claimed their first win of the season by 54 points. App State shot 57 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three while holding St. Andrews to just 20 made field goals and four threes.
Top Performers
Michael Marcus Jr.'s first career double-double marked his second consecutive strong outing as he scored a game-high 18 points while grabbing a game-high 10 boards. He was also a force defensively, blocking four shots to lead the team. Despite only playing eight minutes,
CJ Huntley tallied 15 points, doing most of his damage from the free-throw line. Rounding out the double-digit scorers were
Ben Ezeagu and
Jamil Muttilib, who dropped in 12 and 10 points respectively.
Up Next
App State treks to tradition Big Ten power Wisconsin on Sunday in what will be the Mountaineers' first game against a current Big Ten team since 2019. It will be the first meeting between the Mountaineers and Badgers. Tip off is set for noon ET (11 a.m. CT) and can be streamed on Big Ten+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
