By Jacob Plecker. NORFOLK, Va. — With Old Dominion ahead by two at the 10:10 mark in the second half, CJ Huntley’s hustle play off a missed free throw led to an open three-pointer by Terence Harcum, giving App State a one-point lead. That dagger from long distance sparked a 21-6 run from the App State Mountaineers as they raced past ODU for an 82-67 road win on Feb. 22.
App State’s (23-5, 13-2 SBC) road conference win marks win No.13 in Sun Belt play this season. That breaks the previous record for Sun Belt wins in a season set in 2021-22. It also secures the first winning season on the road for the Mountaineers since the 2009-10 campaign. With Thursday’s win over Old Dominion (6-22, 2-13 SBC), the Mountaineers are one of just 10 Division I teams with at least 23 wins.
Hartley’s hustle was all the spark the Mountaineers needed.
Terence Harcum’s 18 points after intermission fueled App State’s second-half barrage as he buried four threes in the final 20 minutes, including three in the first 10 minutes — leading to a 22-point game. Harcum has played in two games at Chartway Arena and posted 28-point and 22-point performances, giving him an average of 25 points a game in Chartway Arena in his career.
The Mountaineers buried nine of 18 threes they attempted on the night, marking the second consecutive game that App State has shot 50 percent from behind the arc. Three players hit multiple threes: Harcum, Donovan Gregory, and Myles Tate. Harcum’s four threes were his eighth game this season with at least three made from behind the arc leads the team. App State has won 11 straight games in which they shoot at least 40 percent from three.
Offensive rebounding played a huge role in App State’s 23rd win of the season as the Mountaineers used 16 offensive rebounds to get 19 second-chance points. CJ Huntley kept multiple possessions alive in the game, picking up six offensive boards, which is a season-high.
The Mountaineers shot 50 percent (9 of 18 attempts) from behind the arc.
Overall, two players recorded double-digit rebounding performances, with Tre’Von Spillers tallying his eighth double-double of the season. His eight double-doubles this season are the most by a Mountaineer in a season since Isaac Johnson tallied eight in 2019-20.
How It Happened
It was ODU who kicked off the scoring in the Mountaineers’ final road trip of the year as Chaunce Jenkins hit a three to open play at Chartway Arena. But Spillers quickly got his night going, scoring two easy buckets to get App State on the board and tie things up at five by the 16:53 mark.
Both teams struggled to score as play hit the first media break, with neither team tallying a basket for over three minutes. Myles Tate and Christopher Mantis broke the drought. Mantis’ 3-pointer gave App State its largest lead of the game to that point, at five.
ODU retook the lead at 12-10 by the 10:06 mark of the first half but Gregory’s finish through contact in the lane brought the Mountaineers back ahead by one. The Monarchs, who have played their opponents tough recently despite the poor record, worked back ahead by three as play hit the under-eight timeout. Jenkins’ 10th point of the first half sent things to the break.
Myles Tate and Christopher Mantis broke the scoring drought.
After Jordan Marsh buried two free throws, Harcum’s first points of the game pushed the Mountaineers back ahead by two by the 4:07 mark. A put-back bucket by Spillers jumped the lead up to four as the final media timeout came. The Mountaineers were +15 in the first half with Spillers on the court, feeding off his energy on the offensive glass to get easy baskets.
The lead changed hands seven times in the first half but Spillers’ put-back gave App State the spark it needed to finish the stanza. After two free throws from Tyrone Williams, the Mountaineers scored the final four points to close the half with its largest lead of seven, capped off by Tate’s step-back three.
Three-point shooting in the first half played well for App State as 25 percent of their first-half points came via the three-ball. Gregory’s season-high two first-half threes helped fuel the Mountaineers during cold stretches as he led the way in the first half with nine.
Defensively, the Mountaineers held the Monarchs to just 34 percent from the field and 27 percent from three. Because of this, the Mountaineers took a lead into the halftime break for the 17th time this season. Heading into App State’s visit to ODU, the Mountaineers were 15-1 when leading at the half.
Despite the Monarchs scoring the first points of the final half, it was Harcum who found his rhythm. He nailed two shots from long distance almost immediately after the break to give him 10 points for the game to that point. ODU fought to trim the lead to just two by the 14:57 mark, but a third Harcum 3-pointer ballooned App State ahead by five as he started to catch fire.
App State took a three-point lead into the first media timeout of the final half but the competitiveness of the Monarchs tied the game at 50 apiece with 11:52 to go in the final frame. Despite the spurt from ODU, the Mountaineers maintained their lead at the under-12-minute break courtesy of a Spillers steal and a Marsh driving layup through contact on a sweet finish.
ODU took its first lead since the score was 23-20 in the first half, using a 13-5 run to jump back in front after a Dani Pounds dunk. A four-point possession, however, brought App State back in front as a free throw from Gregory and a hustle play that led to Harcum’s fourth three of the half gave App State the lead heading into the under-eight timeout.
Huntley’s hustle was all the spark the Mountaineers needed to build separation as App State outscored the Monarchs by 12 before the next timeout. Huntley continued to leave his mark on the game as he threw down two huge hammers consecutively during the run to give him six points. A huge alley-oop jam from Spillers capped off the big stretch by App State as he and Huntley combined to jolt Chartway Arena in the final stages of the game.
The Mountaineers jumped ahead by as much as 17 late in the game, continuing to run away from the reeling Monarchs as they went on an extended 19-2 run down the stretch. Harcum continued his second-half heroics in Norfolk as he eclipsed 20 points for the game by the 2:17 mark.
When the final horn sounded, the Mountaineers had pulled away with a 15-point victory. The win marked App State’s 15th double-digit victory of the season. It was also App State’s 13th Sun Belt victory, which is the most Sun Belt wins App State has recorded since joining the league in 2014 and the most conference wins in a season since 2009-10.
Top Performers
- For the 16th time this season, all nine players who touched the floor for the Black and Gold recorded a point.
- Additionally, four players reached double-figures, which is the 34th game in a row App State has seen multiple double-figure scorers.
- Terence Harcum’s 18-point second-half barrage paced App State as he posted a game-high 22, marking his fourth 20-point game in conference play.
- Myles Tate’s near-perfect night helped him finish with 14 points but he also recorded five assists and six rebounds. Tate needs just one more assist for 100 this season.
- Tre’Von Spillers continued to be a force down low for head coach Dustin Kerns as his 12 points and 11 rebounds marked his eighth double-double of the year. Spillers’ effort and hustle were huge as App State outscored ODU by 26 points with Spillers on the floor.
