By Zach Smith. PENSACOLA, Fla. — March is known for upsets and wild endings in the college basketball world, and that proved true when App State faced Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals March 10. The Mountaineers fell to the Red Wolves in heartbreaking fashion, 67-65.
Terence Harcum led the way for App State with 15 points. Myles Tate added 11 points off the bench and Justin Abson netted 10 to round out the Mountaineer scoring effort. Abson was App State’s top rebounder with seven boards, and Donovan Gregory dished out a team-best four assists.
Caleb Fields netted 23 points while distributing six assists, both team-highs for Arkansas State. Freddy Hicks followed up with a 19-point performance of his own, and Izaiyah Nelson grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds.
Both teams showed offensive struggles early, but Arkansas State began to pull away in the first half. The Red Wolves took control just under six minutes into the game, never relinquishing their lead over the final 14 minutes of the period. App State was not able to piece together more than four consecutive points in the first half, and entered the locker room trailing by 10.
The second half was nearly the opposite of the first. Playing from behind for nearly 30 straight minutes, the Mountaineers went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead with just under five on the clock. Following a pair of free-throws from Caleb Fields, Myles Tate drained a three-pointer to match App State’s game-high two-point lead. Fields responded with a game-tying layup with just over two minutes remaining before both teams went on scoring droughts. With 14 seconds on the clock, Arkansas State inbounded the ball following a timeout. The Red Wolves got the ball to Freddy Hicks, who hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded to deny the Mountaineers’ hopes of playing for a Sun Belt championship.
An emotional App State head coach Dustin Kerns shared a short statement on his team’s heartbreaking loss to Arkansas State.
“Heartbreaking loss for our program after a special season,” Kerns said. “Credit Arkansas State. They made plays when they needed to make them. It’s a tough way to lose.”
“I think everybody in our locker room is pretty heartbroken”
Kerns shared an insight on how the locker room felt following their semifinals loss.
“There’s a lot of emotions right now,” Kerns said. “I think everybody in our locker room is pretty heartbroken.”
First-year head coach Bryan Hodgson transformed Arkansas State’s basketball program from the No. 13 seed in last year’s Sun Belt Tournament to the No. 4 ranked team this year. Hogdson credited his team for that improvement.
“I’ve been a part of some really good basketball teams,” Hogdson said. “I’m not taking anything away from any of the teams I’ve coached in the past, but I don’t know if I’ve had a team in 15 years of coaching this game that’s grown as much as this team. The selflessness, the discipline, the attention to detail. It seems like it gets better and better every single game.”
Hogdson was sure to not understate how big of a win this was for his team.
“We just beat a really, really good basketball team,” Hogdson said. “Dustin Kerns is a great coach. Obviously Coach of the Year in this league, deservingly so. Undefeated at home. They’ve got wins over Auburn. They’ve got wins over several teams that are gonna play in the NCAA Tournament. That’s a team that not many people would wanna play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Freddy Hicks was the hero for Arkansas State, releasing the eventual game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds on the clock. Hicks explained what went into the final shot.
“My teammates just trusted me to make the right play at the end,” Hicks said. “I said I wanted the ball and they trusted me. We just ran a play and it just worked out. Anybody could have hit that shot.”
Hogdson gave Hicks praise for his motivation to take the game-winning shot.
“I’m gonna intervene there a little bit because [Hicks] is a humble dude,” Hogdson said. “We went into that timeout [with 14.6 seconds remaining] and he grabbed me and said ‘Coach give me the ball, I’m gonna win the basketball game.’ I’m not making that up. He said that to me about three times.”
Although they were on the wrong end of the final score, App State’s 49 percent shooting mark was higher than Arkansas State’s 44 percent clip. The Red Wolves were just the eighth team to out-rebound the Mountaineers this season, 36-27. The nine-rebound margin was the second-largest deficit on the boards App State saw in the 2023-24 campaign.
Arkansas State moves on to the Sun Belt Championship Game for the first time since 2007. The Red Wolves will face the No. 2 seed James Madison March 11 at 6 p.m. Central (7 p.m. Eastern). The game will be broadcast in front of a national audience on ESPN.
App State’s Sun Belt Tournament hopes come to an end with their loss to Arkansas State. The Mountaineers look to Selection Sunday March 17, where they will find out if a bid to a postseason tournament awaits them.
