The Virginia University-Lynchburg Dragons traveled to Boone to take on Mountaineers men’s basketball. The game started with a rebound put back from sophomore forward Michael Marcus Jr. giving App State an early 2-0 lead. Redshirt sophomore center Luke Wilson was fouled at the beginning of the game and made both of his free throws to give the Mountaineers a 4-0 lead. The Mountaineers started the game red hot after taking a 25-3 run during the first 10 minutes of the game.
Late in the first half, junior forward Chad Moodie was unguarded, which led him to score back-to-back baskets for the Mountaineers. Marcus had a strong first half going 5-7 on field goals, 2-2 on free throws and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Freshman guard Jacari Brim had a powerful first half, after being 4-5 on field goals, 2-3 on 3-pointers, 1-2 on free throws and recorded 2 rebounds. By the end of the game, Brim played the most minutes out of everyone with 26 minutes. The first half ended with a 62-21 lead for the Black and Gold. The defense also played well in the half forcing 13 turnovers and recording 23 defensive rebounds.
The Dragons struggled in the first half as they went 7-32 on field goals, 2-11 on 3-pointers, recording 9 rebounds and 8 personal fouls. The Mountaineers offense continued to have a great second half. They went 23-43 on field goal attempts, 12-16 on free throws and recorded 41 rebounds.
The Mountaineers continued their dominance in the second half as they came out firing again on offense. It was a great night for the bench as well. With under 12 minutes in the second half every player on the bench recorded minutes, and instantly made an impact. During the victory, Marcus recorded a career high with 19 points while Brim also had a career day, coming off the bench and leading the team in points with 20.
“I’m feeling good, I’m doing whatever it takes to win, even when I’m playing if it’s 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 30 seconds, just impacting the game whatever I can do to help my team win,” Brim said in a postgame press conference.
Despite a blowout win, head coach Dustin Kerns stated that there is still room for improvement for the team going forward.
“Absolutley, no question we’ve got a lot of things to improve and clean up and I think that we’re gonna take a few days to let these guys rest because that’s important and we’ll get back to work and clean some stuff up for East Carolina next week,” Kerns said in his post-game press conference.
App State did not give Virginia-Lynchburg any reason to keep going and kept pouring it on during the second half to finish the game with a 133-45 win.
App State will travel to Greenville Dec. 11 to take on the East Carolina University Pirates.
