App State men’s basketball team traveled to Harrisonburg, Virginia, Saturday to take on the James Madison Dukes in the second game of their four-game road trip. They won the game 58-50.
Junior guard Alonzo Dodd, junior guard Dior Conners, senior forward Jalil Beaubrun, redshirt senior guard Myles Tate and graduate student forward CJ Huntley started the game for the Mountaineers. This was the sixth consecutive game where these five players started.
James Madison started out hot with a quick 5-0 run, but Conners got the Mountaineers on the board with the first three-pointer of the game for the Black and Gold.
Conners was the only offense for the Mountaineers early, hitting 2 more threes to give the Black and Gold their first lead of the game. Conners had 9 points compared to 7 total from James Madison.
The offense continued for the Mountaineers, with Tate, freshman forward Michael Marcus Jr. and Huntley getting on the board. The App State run was at 12-0. The Dukes finally scored to stop the bleeding, but they were held scoreless for five minutes.
The lead grew to double digits as Tate connected with his first three of the game. At the under-eight media timeout, the Mountaineers were 4 for 9 from deep, and the Dukes were 1 for 8.
Despite the hot start, App State quickly cooled off from the field. The defense was picking up the slack, with the Dukes scoring just 2 points in five minutes.
The turnovers were starting to pile up for both teams, with the two teams combining for 15 in the first 17 minutes. App State was able to capitalize off of this, getting 9 points off of turnovers in the first half.
James Madison caught fire to end the half, going on a 8-0 to end the opening frame, and tying the game at 20. App State scored 5 points in the final 12 minutes.
Beaubrun got the Mountaineers offense started the second half, he didn’t score in the first half, but picked up 7 early points in the first four minutes.
The App State offense was rolling again. The Black and Gold scored a total of 20 points in the first half, and scored 17 in the second half in just six minutes.
Conners made his first three since hitting three in a row to start the game, and the Mountaineers matched their first half total of 20 in eight minutes. Redshirt freshman Luke Wilson hit 2 free throws to get the lead to double digits again.
After a James Madison basket, Conners connected on his fifth three of the game to get the lead to 11.
The Dukes were not done fighting, and were able to cut the lead to 4 with just under five minutes left to play, and the crowd was getting into it. Tate was not fazed by the moment and hit a jumper to get it back to 6.
Another three from James Madison cut the lead to 3 at the final media timeout after App State went two minutes without scoring. Conners came up big again, hitting his sixth three of the game right after the media timeout.
App State needed some stops to close out the game, and they got some. After a James Madison layup at 1:47, the Mountaineer defense didn’t allow a point. After a few free throws, App State walked away with their fifth straight victory.
Tate had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists for the Mountaineers. He led the team in all three of those stats.
The App State defense was once again relentless. The defense forced 13 turnovers and only allowed 50 points. The past couple of games have been a strong stretch for this defensive unit, only allowing 93 points in the last two games.
