App State men’s basketball welcomed Old Dominion University to the Holmes Convocation Center Saturday and lost 75-73.
The game started off sluggish, with a stoppage in the first four seconds to give the Mountaineers the ball. A missed 3-pointer from graduate student guard Kasen Jennings handed the ball over to ODU. The Monarchs took the lead after a 3-pointer from guard Jordan Battle.
The Mountaineers charged down the court, and after a quick layup from Jennings, redshirt sophomore center Luke Wilson knocked down a free throw, and the Black and Gold tied it back at 3. The Monarchs got hot, going on a 6-0 run until it was cut short by a Jennings 3-pointer.
Both teams started trading fouls, racking up 5 fouls combined in just under seven minutes of play. This ended up leading to another short burst of points for the Monarchs, who led 16-8. The Mountaineers started to climb back with a dunk from junior forward Chad Moodie, who ended up at the line but missed both free throws. This allowed the Monarchs to stretch their lead to 6 again after a jumper from guard Drew McKenna.
Then a foul from Moodie put Battle on the line for the Monarchs, who extended the lead to 8 with seven minutes left to play. Jennings got fouled after Battle’s free throws and missed one of two.
This became a theme for the Mountaineers, having a plethora of missed shots and opportunities, going 5-16 for field goals and 1-9 from beyond the arch. These missed opportunities allowed ODU to keep a comfortable distance from the Black and Gold, consistently having a lead of 8 or larger as time wound down in the first half. ODU then got hot, making 4 3-pointers in a row to extend the lead to 19 to end the half.
The Black and Gold came out of the locker room after a quick layup from senior guard Alonzo Dodd, who then nailed a quick 3-pointer to start the Mountaineers’ trek back into this game. The Black and Gold started to heat up as a 13-0 run — with huge contributions from sophomore forward Michael Marcus Jr., Dodd, Wilson and Jennings — brought the Mountaineers’ deficit within seven points.
The Monarchs weren’t trying to relinquish the lead just yet and began trading buckets with the Black and Gold, which allowed the Monarchs to extend the lead back to 13 after a slight scoring drought where the Mountaineers went 0-7 on field goals.
Both teams continued to trade blows, but the Mountaineers were fighting through it, dragging the lead back to 7 with two minutes left in the game. Then, a huge missed offensive foul call allowed the Monarchs to put the lead back to 10. The Black and Gold fought through it, bringing it to a two-possession game. Jennings put up a huge 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game, but Dodd fouled guard LJ Thomas to send him to the line with a chance to put the game on ice. But Lady Luck dealt a good hand to the Mountaineers as they trailed by 2 with less than 30 seconds left in the game. However, Lady Luck unfortunately couldn’t bail the Black and Gold out again as a free throw from Battle put the game on ice with a final score of 75-73.
The Mountaineers will stay in Boone to play the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Thursday Jan. 22. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m., and it will be streamed on ESPN+.
