HATTIESBURG, Miss. – With the App State Men's Basketball team clinging to a one-point lead with 6:47 to play in regulation, App State looked to pull away late. It did just that as a 9-3 run, spearheaded by seven straight points by
Michael Marcus Jr., helped the Mountaineers to a seven-point lead, which they held for the duration of the game to post a 70-63 road win over Southern Miss.
Thursday's contest was tightly contested throughout, as the two teams swapped the lead five times. But once Marcus Jr. threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk with 2:44 to play in the final half, the Mountaineers (14-9, 7-4 SBC) took control and never let their foot off the gas pedal. The win was punctuated by a
Jalen Tot 3-pointer that he banked in while falling into his bench with just over a minute left to play.
App State was stout defensively against Southern Miss (11-12, 5-6 SBC), holding it to just a 36.2 percent clip from the field. It marks the third straight contest that App State has held its opponent below 40 percent from the field. Additionally, the Mountaineers allowed just three Southern Miss 3-pointers, which matched App State's season low for 3-pointers allowed in a game.
The Mountaineers also handled business at the charity stripe on Thursday, as they nailed 22 of their 29 free throws. This especially helped App State late in the game, as it buried seven of its final eight free throws to close out the contest.
Kasen Jennings and Tot finished the night with a combined 12-12 clip from the free-throw line, while
Alonzo Dodd went 6-8.
How it Happened
The Mountaineers got the scoring started in Hattiesburg after Jennings connected on two free throws. Southern Miss scored its first points to tie the score, but Tot drilled his first of five 3-pointers a possession later to give the Mountaineers a 5-2 lead a little over a minute into the contest.
Southern Miss took its first lead of the game at 8-7, using a 6-2 run to do so. That lead swelled to four points after a three fell following the first media timeout, but Tot made it a one-point game again by hitting on his second 3-pointer of the contest. Dodd then found his way into the lane for back-to-back scores, which sent action to the under-12 timeout with the Golden Eagles ahead by one point.
Following a Southern Miss score to push it back ahead by three with 9:41 to play in the opening half, the Mountaineers responded with an 8-0 run to go ahead by five points with 6:51 to play.
Luke Wilson and
Chad Moodie started the run with baskets before a third
Jalen Tot 3-pointer fell to cap off the run. The Golden Eagles closed the gap back down to one with three minutes to play in the half, but scores by Jennings and Wilson shot App State back ahead by five as play neared halftime.
The two teams endured almost a two-minute-long scoring drought after Wilson's second-chance basket, but it was Southern Miss that closed the half strong by scoring three points with 30 seconds to play to close its gap down to two. When the halftime buzzer sounded, App State owned a 29-27 lead.
Southern Miss tied the score after the half with a pair of free throws, but a pair of freebies from Dodd and a 3-pointer by Jennings propelled the Mountaineers back ahead by five points with 17:57 to play in the game. Southern Miss closed its deficit back down to one point after a Tylik Weeks layup and a Dylan Brumfield free throw, but the fourth Tot 3-pointer dropped to make it a four-point game with 15 minutes to play.
Tot accounted for five straight points after hitting on two free throws, but the Golden Eagles tied the score at 39 after Weeks muscled his way into the paint for an and-1 chance.
Eren Banks gave App State the lead back with a layup before the under-12 timeout, but Southern Miss eventually took its first lead since it was 17-14 with another and-1 chance.
Now trailing for the first time in the second half, App State looked for a spark. Jennings got into the paint for a layup to send App State back in front, but Weeks answered with a layup to jump Southern Miss back on top. A pair of free throws by Tot made the lead change hands again as play hit under-eight break, and then the Mountaineers found what they needed to close the game.
After Israel Hart countered a pair of App State free throws to make it a one-point game with just under seven minutes to play, Marcus Jr. took a dish from Jennings and muscled his way to the basket for a layup. A possession later, Marcus Jr. nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and then Dodd found a wide-open Marcus Jr. for a layup off a Southern Miss score to make it a five-point game with 4:27 to play.
Dodd sent the game to the last media break with a pair of free throws to cap off a 9-3 run, which helped App State take control. The Mountaineers' advantage swelled to eight after Jennings buried a 3-pointer from the left wing. Then, Marcus Jr. stormed his way into the lane for a two-handed slam to make the score 62-54 with three minutes to play in the game.
Southern Miss cut App State's lead back down to four with 1:53 to go, but Tot stifled any hopes of a comeback for the home team by banking in a long 3-pointer while falling into his bench, which gave App State a seven-point lead with 84 seconds to play. App State closed the game with strong free-throw shooting and claimed a seven-point road win, which marked App State's first win against the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg.
Top Performers
Tot's barrage from deep helped him post a team-high 19 points on Thursday, highlighted by five made threes. Tot was efficient when he got his shot off, as he drilled five of his seven 3-point attempts, while also going 4-4 from the free-throw line. Jennings was right behind Tot with 18 points, with most of his damage coming from the free-throw line, as he went 8-8 from the stripe. The graduate guard also totaled a team-high two steals. Both Dodd and Marcus Jr. finished in double figures, with Dodd tallying 12 and Marcus Jr. totaling 10. All 10 of Marcus Jr.'s points came in the final eight minutes of the game.
Up Next
App State will wrap up its brief two-game road trip with a visit to the reigning Sun Belt Tournament champion Troy Trojans on Saturday. Tip off from Trojan Arena is slated for 4:33 p.m. ET (3:33 p.m. CT), and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
