The second half of App State’s trip through Virginia ended in a 78-61 loss to the James Madison Dukes.
The Mountaineers now carry a 4-5 conference record, placing them in a three-way tie for seventh in the Sun Belt standings, alongside Arkansas State and Louisiana with 10 regular season games remaining.
The first quarter was marred by a slow start offensively for the Black and Gold, as the team took nearly three minutes to get on the scoreboard and trailed 16-10 after the opening quarter.
Shots fell in the second frame as the Mountaineers used a 20-point quarter to cut the deficit to three at halftime. Both sophomore forward Rylan Moffitt and sophomore guard Chaé Harris put up 10 points in the first half. Harris eclipsed the 300 career point mark in the process.
A back-and-forth third quarter was led by sophomore guard Alexis Black with seven points, one rebound and one steal. Sixteen total points from App State were not enough to keep pace with an 18-point third quarter from the Dukes, who extended their lead to five with 10 minutes remaining.
The offensive struggles from earlier returned in the fourth quarter, with no Mountaineer scoring for more than five points in the final period. While the Black and Gold allowed no field goals in the final 3:28, a 27-point fourth quarter for James Madison put the game out of reach for App State.
Moffitt led in scoring for the Mountaineers with a career-high 16 points along with seven rebounds. Black and Harris also reached double digits, both contributing 13 points.
The Mountaineers entered the game ranked 12th in the Sun Belt in field goal shooting percentage and 10th in three-point percentage. Neither of those trends changed Saturday, as the Black and Gold shot 36% from the field and 23% from behind the arc, both below average on the season.
Rebounding was one of App State’s critical downfalls on the night, as they trailed James Madison 20-9 in the offensive rebound category.
Saturday’s game was the first of two contests between the Mountaineers and Dukes as the conference rivals will meet again in Boone Feb. 24.
Up next for the Black and Gold is a trip to Huntington, West Virginia to face off against the Marshall Thundering Herd Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. with streaming available on ESPN+.
