App State men’s basketball traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to take on the University of Southern Mississippi testing their luck against the Golden Eagles. The night ended in a 70-63 win.
Just 20 seconds after tip-off, graduate student guard Kasen Jennings received a pair of free throws after a foul was called on the Golden Eagles.
Thirty seconds later, graduate student guard Jalen Tot took his usual deep shot from behind the arc, giving the Mountaineers a 5-2 lead early.
In just six minutes, sophomore forward Michael Marcus Jr. committed 2 fouls, sending him out and bringing in junior forward Chad Moodie to clean up the mess.
An assist from junior guard Eren Banks led to a Moodie dunk, giving the Mountaineers a l 18-17 lead after trailing a majority of the half.
Tot drained another 3-pointer, giving him 9 points, the most points from a single player on either team.
Back-to-back fouls called on redshirt sophomore center Luke Wilson sent Moodie in to finish the remaining minutes of the half.
Moodie very quickly received a foul, giving the Golden Eagles an and-1, putting them at 29-27 with 30 seconds on the clock.
At halftime, five Mountaineers accumulated 8 fouls compared to the Golden Eagles’ 7.
Wilson, senior guard Alonzo Dodd and Jennings all had 6 points while Tot had 9. Moodie was a powerhouse on defense as he recorded 3 blocks and 2 rebounds. The Black and Gold needed to work on ball movement inside the paint heading into the second half.
Jennings had his first made 3-pointer of the night, putting App State up 34-29 coming out of halftime.
A tight officiating game came down to small foul calls, giving the Golden Eagles multiple chances to shoot from the free throw line.
App State kept a close game at 34-33 with less than 15 minutes remaining. Just as the Mountaineer light was dimming, Tot shot another. His fourth 3-pointer of the game gave App State a small margin of comfort.
With less than 10 minutes left, App State was trailing behind by just 1 point, 42-41.
Marcus was the momentum in the second half. He nailed a 3-pointer with under five minutes left of play.
The Mountaineers gained their largest lead of the game at 57-50 with under four minutes left of action.
Full-court pressure was no sweat for App State, as Jennings connected on his second 3-pointer of the night.
The Black and Gold pulled away from the close game that the Golden Eagles created, and held a 62-56 lead with less than two minutes left.
Tot seemed to seal the win with a nearly out of bounds 3-pointer, giving App State a shot at a clean victory.
A low scoring first half paired with a strong offensive second half gave App State a deserving 70-63 victory.
App State will play Sun Belt Conference leader Troy University in Alabama Saturday.
Tipoff is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
