CONWAY, S.C. – It was a tight first 30 minutes of the contest in Conway on Thursday, but a push by the App State Men's Basketball team (16-9, 9-4 SBC) in the second half helped it pull away from the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (8-18, 1-12 SBC) for its fourth straight win. With the score at 41-39 in favor of App State with 11:29 to play, the Mountaineers outscored the Chanticleers 23-7 over the final 11 minutes to post a 64-46 win, the team's 16th win of the year.
The Mountaineers' defense smothered Coastal Carolina all night long as they posted their third game in Sun Belt play allowing 50 points or fewer. The last time an App State team allowed 50 points or fewer against a Division I team three separate times in a season was in 1978-79. It was the third straight game in which App State has held their opponent to less than 60 points scored.
For the second consecutive game, the Mountaineers overcame a sluggish first half with a dominant second half as App State outscored the Chanticleers by 14 in the final stanza. Over the past two games, the Mountaineers are +33 in the second half. Despite the slow start, App State led for 34 minutes in the game and led for the final 30 minutes of play.
App State had three players reach double figures against the Chanticleers in
Myles Tate,
CJ Huntley and
Alonzo Dodd. Tate struggled to shoot the basketball, going just 4-13 from the field, but as good players do, he impacted the game in other ways as he recorded his second career double-double on Thursday with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. It was Tate's second career game with at least 10 rebounds with his last 10-rebound game coming on Jan. 16, 2021, against Creighton when he was a member of the Butler Bulldogs.
How it Happened
In the Mountaineers' second game of their three-game road trip, Huntley tallied the game's first three points, which included a posterizing dunk over his defender on a sweet find by Dodd. Tate tallied his first points of the game with a 3-pointer to make it 6-0 App State just two minutes into the game.
A four-point play by Jordan Battle opened the scoring for Coastal Carolina, but his shot was quickly answered by a Huntley three to give him six of App State's first nine points. Another shot from Battle went home to make the score 7-9 at the 16-minute mark, but a crafty move by Dodd resulted in a layup to put the Mountaineers up four at the first media timeout.
The Chanticleers took their first lead of the game at the 13:10 mark of the opening half as Denzel Hines buried a three from the top of the key. It was the first of six lead changes in the game. App State trailed only briefly as
Jackson Threadgill got rewarded for his aggressiveness in the open court and sunk two freebies.
Coastal Carolina reclaimed the advantage at 14-13 thanks to Mabor Majak's putback layup.
Luke Wilson then sunk his first of two baskets in the game to put the Mountaineers back on top. A Chanticleer 3-pointer sent them ahead by its largest lead of two points at the 9:53 mark of the first half. It was their last lead of the contest.
App State regained the lead back with a three by
Dior Conners from the right wing and went ahead by three after Huntley drilled a hook shot in the paint. Not letting App State maintain its momentum, the Chanticleers responded with a basket to make the score 21-19 in favor of the Mountaineers by the under-eight media break.
With the Mountaineers holding a two-point edge, both teams went cold from the field for the next four minutes of play. The two teams combined to miss eight straight shots during this stretch. A pair of free throws by Battle ended the cold spurt before Dodd's layup marked the Mountaineers' first field goal since the 7:47 mark.
The Mountaineers found their groove to close the half, scoring six of the final eight points heading into the break. Tate accounted for four of those six points to put App State up by six points with 35 seconds to play, the team's largest lead of the first half, but a late Coastal Carolina basket closed the half with the Mountaineers maintaining a slim four-point lead.
It was a tightly contested first half in Conway that saw the lead change hands six different times. Both Huntley and Tate scored eight points to lead the Mountaineers, but it was a struggle from the field in the half as App State shot just 9-27 from the field. Regardless, the Mountaineers held the advantage entering the final half of play.
Similarly to the end of the half, the Mountaineers sputtered to open the second half, which allowed the Chanticleers to tie the game at 30 by the 17:16 mark. The Mountaineers tallied just one field goal in their first eight second-half attempts. A pair of Wilson free throws put the Mountaineers back on top by two, but after a Huntley bucket, Coastal Carolina made it a one-point game with a Hines three at the 14:07 mark.
Huntley's strong play to open the final frame helped calm things down for App State in the second half as he tallied nine of the Mountaineers' first 14 points in the half. The big man from Huntersville sandwiched two field goals in between a Tate jumper to put the Mountaineers back up by four points by the under-12 timeout. Huntley's 3-pointer at the 11:59 mark gave him his final tally of 17 points.
Coastal Carolina got a shot to go down low to make the score 41-39 with 11:29 to play. After Tate hit two free throws, it was all App State from then on. A free throw by
Jalil Beaubrun swelled the Mountaineers ahead five points before Dodd's shiftiness in the paint led to a layup to put App State up six points.
The Mountaineers' lead grew to its largest of the game after Wilson put back a Tate miss with a left-handed layup. Dodd quickly made it a 10-point game with seven minutes to play. App State eventually went ahead by 12 points thanks to a pair of Dodd freebies, which capped off a strong 11-1 burst from the Mountaineers to take control of the game.
Colin Granger finally ended the run, with a layup, but that didn't stop the Mountaineers as Tate scored five straight points to balloon App State ahead by 13 with 2:41 to go. Conners delivered the dagger with a long 3-pointer from the wing to soar App State ahead by 16, its second-largest lead of the game.
After Tate recorded his 10th rebound of the game to give him a double-double, the Mountaineers wrapped up the game at the free-throw line, sinking four free throws in a row to secure an 18-point victory. The Mountaineers rebounded from a slow first half by making every one of its 3-point attempts in the final half while shooting 46 percent.
Top Performers
Both
Myles Tate and
CJ Huntley led all scorers against Coastal Carolina, each scoring 17 points. Tate struggled from the field but found a way to impact the game in other ways with a career-best 10 rebounds and four assists. Strong starts in both halves helped Huntley reach his tally of 17 points as he scored eight points in the first 13 minutes of the opening half and nine points in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Luke Wilson, who played in his most minutes since Dec. 3, provided a nice spark off the bench with eight points, six boards and two blocks.
Up Next
App State will cap off its three-game road trip in Atlanta on Saturday, facing the Georgia State Panthers for the second time this season. Tipoff from the GSU Convocation Center is slated for 2 p.m. and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
