On Wednesday, App State defeated Southern Miss with a buzzer-beater by a score of 60-58. It was the two teams’ first and only matchup of the regular season.
Junior guards Alonzo Dodd and Dior Conners, senior forward Jalil Beaubrun, redshirt senior guard Myles Tate and graduate student forward CJ Huntley started the game for the Mountaineers.
The Golden Eagles scored the first 4 points, but Huntley got the Mountaineers on the board with a layup. The first four minutes were fast-paced with few points from each side.
Graduate student guard Jackson Threadgill connected on the team’s first three-pointer of the game to tie the game up at 8.
Redshirt freshman center Luke Wilson also got his first points of the game with a dunk. The Black and Gold had 10 points, half of them coming from the bench.
Huntley then connected with a hook shot to give App State their first lead of the game.
The scoring was starting to pick up for both teams. Conners got on the board with a three to tie the game up at 22.
Huntley put the Mountaineers on his back in the first half. He had 12 points after hitting his second three of the game.
Tate made a free throw at the end of the first half and the Mountaineers went into the locker room with a 31-28 halftime lead.
It took almost three minutes for the Mountaineers offense to get going in the second half. It was Huntley who got them on the board with a couple of free throws.
A Beaubrun dunk gave the Mountaineers a 5-point lead. It was the most by either team up to that point.
The lead quickly shrank back to 1, but a couple of made free throws from Beaubrun gave the Mountaineers a 3-point lead. A fast break dunk from Huntley got it back to 5 and Southern Miss called a timeout.
The game was finally seeing some separation, with the Mountaineers extending the lead to 7. Wilson blocked a shot that landed in the Southern Miss bench and the crowd rose to their feet.
Wilson was having his best game as a Mountaineer. He was up to 6 points and 2 blocks while perfect from the field.
Dodd scored his first points in the game with a layup. He was the last starter to get on the board for the Black and Gold.
Huntley grabbed his tenth rebound to give him a double-double. It was his sixth of the season and his second consecutive game with one.
Southern Miss did not go away. A cold stretch from the Black and Gold cut the Mountaineer lead to 1.
Beaubrun scored a layup shortly after and got the lead back to 3. Head coach Dustin Kerns then called a timeout. After the timeout, he scored again to give himself 4 straight.
App State went ice cold from deep, and Southern Miss was able to capitalize by taking its first lead of the second half with just under four minutes to play.
The Golden Eagles got the lead to 3, but Beaubrun scored another layup to get it back to 1 with 1:46 to play.
Southern Miss got a steal and a layup to back up 3, but Conners hit a three in the corner to tie the game at 58. The Mountaineers got a stop on the next possession and called timeout with 7.1 seconds to play.
The ball was inbounded to Tate, who drove the ball past mid-court. He drew three different Southern Miss defenders and had to give it up with the clock running down. He was able to make an acrobatic pass over to Huntley who dunked it at the buzzer, and the Mountaineers won.
Huntley led the game in scoring with 20 on 8-10 shooting. He also led the game in rebounds with 12. Tate led the game in assists with 11, it was his second game of the season getting more than 10.
The Mountaineers hit the road and travel up to Athens, Ohio, to face the Ohio Bobcats Saturday. The game tips off at 2 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
