CHARLOTTE, N.C. — App State Men's Basketball coach Dustin Kerns needed only two words Friday to make an initial assessment following the Mountaineers' 66-60 win at Charlotte in a lively Halton Arena.
 
Toughness travels.
 
App State (3-1) beat the 49ers (2-2) for the second straight season, maintaining the lead for good after Jaylen Colon hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer at the end of the first half and the Mountaineers built a double-digit advantage thanks to a 7-0 run to begin the second half.
 
Ben Kopetzki scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds on a night in which he drilled four 3-pointers. Colon's 15 points resulted from five 3-pointers, and Eren Banks played the role of closer while scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half.
 
Chad Moodie came up with several big plays in the paint, Andrin Njock provided a lift off the bench with his energy and App State's defense limited explosive scorer Keyshaun Tillery to 5-for-17 shooting from the field during a 23-point night that ended with the 49ers shooting 30.3 percent as a team.
 
Moodie, Banks and Da'Mori Lytch grabbed six rebounds apiece, and Colon added five as Kerns improved to 4-2 against Charlotte. His teams are 2-1 in Halton Arena after the 49ers won 16 of the first 20 home games in a series that dates back to 1971.
 
App State led by as many as 13 points at 40-27 in the first five minutes of the second half Friday. Charlotte rallied and had a 3-point attempt to tie the game with 3:47 remaining left but missed it.
 
Kopetzki converted a layup on the next possession to push App State ahead 50-45, Banks hit a fadeaway jumper to increase the margin to six and Moodie followed a block at one end with a baby hook at the other for a 54-46 advantage with 2:29 left.
 
Tillery's friendly bounce on a 3-pointer and one Charlotte free throw cut the 49ers' deficit to 54-50 heading to the final two minutes, but Banks scored on a driving layup before feeding Colon for a corner 3 to give the Mountaineers a nine-point lead with 57 seconds left. Kopetzki and Banks made enough free throws to hold off the 49ers, who closed within 61-58 in the final 30 seconds.
 
Kopetzki and Colon both went 3-for-5 from 3-point range during a low-scoring first half.  The score was tied at 25-all with 3.3 seconds left in the half when Colon inbounded the ball to Moodie in front of App State's bench, got the ball back and swished a rushed heave from beyond the arc.
 
Kopetzki opened the second-half by scoring with a pull-up jumper, Ted Neal followed that with a jumper from the high post and Colon made a 3-pointer to put App State in front 45-35. The margin was still 10 a few minutes later when Njock rebounded a miss and drew a foul while converting an off-balanced putback.
 
The Mountaineers are back in action next Friday night, when they host North Texas at 6:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center. Tickets can be purchased at appstatesports.com.
 
Sport-specific giving allows you to directly support App State student-athletes and help provide them the resources they need to be successful. Click here to contribute to the Men's Basketball support fund.
 
Keep up with App State Men's Basketball wherever you go by following the Mountaineers on social media. Follow @AppStateMBB on X, Instagram and Facebook. Download the App State Athletics App for iOS or Android to keep the Mountaineers at your fingertips.