App State men’s basketball wrote another chapter in the Old Mountain Feud Thursday night, bringing home a 73-58 win over the Marshall Thundering Herd.
With the victory and Troy’s loss to Arkansas State, the Black and Gold now have sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt standings with five regular season games remaining.
“Proud of our guys,” said head coach Dustin Kerns. “I thought it was a hard fought, solid win over a really good program.”
The Mountaineers played one of their best defensive games of the season by holding Marshall to 58 points, their second-lowest of the season.
“I think we kind of wore them down,” said graduate student forward Donovan Gregory. “Having such a deep team, and just being able to sub and keep the same intensity up no matter who was in the game.”
The Black and Gold started slow offensively in the first 20 minutes, shooting just 46% in the half. Gregory led the team with 11 points in the first half, no other Mountaineer scored more than five.
Even when the shots weren’t falling, some hard-nosed defense helped App State carry a 31-29 lead into the break.
“We played good defense in the first half,” Kerns said. “Offensively, we made some adjustments with how we were playing, we certainly had a much better second half.”
Those locker room adjustments yielded a 42-point second half for the Mountaineers, led by junior forward Tre’Von Spillers with nine points and 11 rebounds. Spillers finished the night with 14 total rebounds, nearly double his season average entering the game.
The Mountaineers outscored the Thundering Herd 13-6 in the final four minutes of the game to seal the win. After the game, Kerns expressed his relief over the team’s first low-stress victory in two weeks.
“I did feel like we had the game under control there for the most part,” Kerns said. “We just talked about, ‘hey no threes, no threes, that’s the only way they can get back in the game.’”
One of the biggest weaknesses for App State this season has been their free-throw shooting, as they ranked 12th in the Sun Belt entering the game. While their team percentage of 55% suggests those issues remain, Kerns is confident those numbers will improve.
“We’ve had games where we shot it well,” Kerns said. “And I feel like we’ve shot it better. I have confidence in our guys shooting free throws.”
Three thousand eight hundred and four fans filled Holmes Convocation Center for Thursday’s contest, making it the largest weeknight crowd of the season and fourth-largest overall.
“Coming from my freshman year to now, it’s honestly crazy,” Gregory said about the increase in fan support this season. “We appreciate it, and I think it’s helping us be on this home win streak as well.”
App State and Marshall will meet again in Huntington Feb. 24. It was announced Thursday the rematch will be aired live on ESPN2 or ESPNU, making it the third nationally-televised game of the year for the Mountaineers.
Prior to that, App State welcomes the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns to the Holmes Center Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. with streaming available on ESPN+.
