By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — At least for the moment, App State men’s basketball separated itself from the logjam at the top of the Sun Belt Conference standings with a thrilling, Senior Day win, 89-74, over Georgia Southern on Feb. 21. A 13-4 run in the final three minutes gave the Mountaineers the 15-point win in spite of a tight contest most of the way.

Three Eagles with at least 21 points were offset by a balanced scoring performance by App State, which saw five players in double figures. Down the stretch, Eren Banks a transfer to App State from Georgia Southern this season, gave his former team the fits in scoring 8 of his 13 points total for the game in the last five minutes. Center Luke Wilson poured in a team-high 10 points for the Mountaineers, also joined in double figures by Jalen Tot (17), Kasen Jennings (16) and Alonzo Dodd (12).

Banks and forward Chad Moodie (8 points) combined to give the Mountaineers 21 valuable points from the bench.

The Eagles’ offensive production was led by Alden Applewhite (game-high 24 points), as well as Tyren Moore and Tavarus Webb, each with 21 points.

App State center Luke Wilson had a ‘Dunk-a-Thon’ Feb. 21 vs. Georgia Southern

Georgia Southern’s largest lead came early, at 16-7, with almost eight minutes gone in the first half. It was a period where App State struggled to find open looks against a pressuring Eagles defense. But starting with a close-in layup by Moodie coming off the bench, the Mountaineers went on a 17-0 run to go up 28-18. Georgia Southern whittled the App State down to just a one-point advantage with a little more than four minutes remaining in the opening half, but the Mountaineers finished with another run to lead by seven points at the break.

While Georgia Southern tied the game at 55-55 with just under 12 minutes remaining when senior starting guard Tavarus Webb nailed a 3-pointer, the Mountaineers never surrendered the lead for the remainder of the game.

For the almost 4,000 Mountaineer basketball fans in attendance, it was a thrilling, Senior Day performance that celebrated the contributions of seniors Alonzo Dodd, Jalen Tot, and Kasen Jennings.

With the win, App State (11-6 in Sun Belt Conference, 19-11 overall) moves back into a half-game lead over a trio of SBC contenders at 10-6 in conference play: South Alabama, Marshall and Troy. At 10-7, Texas State has to be considered a part of the knot at the top of the standings, with Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina lingering at 9-7.

The Mountaineers can clinch at least a share of the top spot in the conference seedings with a final regular season game win at Texas State on Feb. 27. South Alabama closes the regular season with home games vs. ULM (Feb. 25) and Southern Miss (Feb. 27). Marshall also closes the regular season at home vs. Old Dominion (Feb. 24) and Georgia Southern (Feb. 27). Troy similar will finish the regular season at home against Louisiana (Feb. 24) and ULM (Feb. 27).

At this point in the season, victories are especially important as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds received byes into the semifinals (March 8) of the March 3-9 Sun Belt Conference tournament. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds receive byes into the quarterfinals (March 7).