App State men’s basketball traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire to face Dartmouth College for the first time in program history Sunday. The Mountaineers defeated the Big Green 85-77 in a back-and-forth game for their first road win of the season. Four Mountaineers reached double-digit point totals, led by graduate student guard Kasen Jennings with 21 points.
The match against Dartmouth marked the second time the Mountaineers squared off against an Ivy League school, the only other occasion being March 17, 2010 against Harvard University in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. App State won that contest 93-71.
The Mountaineers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in Leede Arena. Redshirt sophomore center Luke Wilson scored the first points of the game with a layup 20 seconds in.
Wilson finished the afternoon with 13 points and racked up 3 blocks.
Jennings found the bottom of the basket on back-to-back possessions early on, making a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer.
Dartmouth started red-hot from beyond the arc, making 5 of their first 6 3-point shot attempts, giving the Big Green a 17-11 lead six minutes into the game.
App State responded with authority, going on a 13-0 run to take control of the game.
Wilson and sophomore guard Jason Clarke Jr. capped off the run with and-one layups that energized the Mountaineers’ bench.
Graduate student guard Jalen Tot drained a 3-pointer to extend the Black and Gold’s lead to 13 with seven minutes left in the first half.
Dartmouth inched closer in the final minutes of the first half, but App State went into the locker room holding a 41-37 lead.
Wilson missed an alley-oop dunk on a set play to start the second half, and Dartmouth immediately went down the court and splashed a 3-pointer to get within a point.
The Big Green took a 1-point lead after making 2 free throws, but the Mountaineers answered with an 11-0 run, 7 of those points coming from Jennings.
Dartmouth wouldn’t go away, responding with a 12-2 run of their own to tie the game at 54-54. The run was capped by a slam dunk from guard Nikola Abusara, leading Mountaineers head coach Dustin Kerns to call a timeout.
App State gradually built up a lead following the timeout. Layups and free throws from Wilson, senior guard Alonzo Dodd and junior guard Eren Banks gave the Mountaineers a 6-point cushion with under eight minutes to go. Dodd and Banks each finished with 16 points, a season-high for both players.
The lead grew to double-digits a few minutes later following a flurry of layups and 3-pointers from the Mountaineers, and Jennings made it a 14-point advantage with just over three minutes left with a mid-range jumper.
Dartmouth cut the deficit to 6 with a 3-pointer by guard Kareem Thomas with 36 seconds remaining, but the Mountaineers made several free throws down the stretch to keep the Big Green at bay and secure their first road victory of the season.
App State returns to Boone Nov. 21, where they will host in-state opponent UNC-Charlotte. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
