App State men’s basketball traveled 698 miles to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to tip off their season opener against the Central Michigan University Chippewas. A back and forth game led to an 82-66 loss.
Senior guard Alonzo Dodd, junior guard Eren Banks, graduate student guard Kasen Jennings, junior forward Chad Moodie and sophomore forward Michael Marcus Jr. were named the Mountaineer starting five Monday.
The beginning of the game remained steady for App State until the nine minute mark. The Chippewas pulled away drastically leaving the score at 7-19 with over ten minutes left in the quarter.
The Black and Gold’s offense seemed to shake off the deficit, giving Dodd the ball and making two three pointers from deep in a minute, and were able to shrink the deficit to 16-24 with over seven minutes left in the half.
Consistency seemed to be an issue in the first half as App State went 8-28 from the field, and shot 26.67% from beyond the arc. History seemed to repeat itself in the form of missed free throws for the Mountaineers as they went 6-13 in the first half.
Jennings was able to secure a steal and capitalize on a foul call on the Chippewas, but he was not able to make a free throw. With less than a minute left in the first, leaving the score 26-38 going into the locker room.
Jennings joined the Mountaineer roster with five years of collegiate experience after three seasons at Kennesaw State University and then two seasons at the University of South Florida.
Jennings was able to find holes in the Chippewas defense, securing layups in the paint and grabbing 3 steals in his 36 minutes on the court while totalling a team-high 21 points.
The Mountaineers could not find stability in the beginning of the second half as Central Michigan opened the second with a big three, and another followed.
The largest Mountaineer deficit came with just over fifteen minutes left in the game at 51-31. Head coach Dustin Kerns called a timeout in hopes of regaining some sort of momentum. Dodd responded with an explosive shot from beyond the arc, after returning from the bench for ten minutes in the second half.
A couple of mistakes on the defensive end resulted in wide open shots in the paint for the Chippewas leading to a 55-71 scoreboard with just six minutes left in the game.
Although the Mountaineers seemed to receive some key scoring from bench players such as sophomore guard Jason Clarke Jr. and graduate student guard Jalen Tot, it was not enough to catch the Chippewas, leading to a 66-82 defeat.
Dodd ended his 19 minute appearance with 11 points and going 2-3 from beyond the arc. The Georgia Southern University transfer, Banks ended his first App State game with 9 points, 1 steal and 2 rebounds.
