By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It wasn’t the prettiest basketball performance, but a meaningful win nonetheless.
Still clinging to a 5-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with hopes for a bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals or semifinals, App State men’s basketball won with a buzzer-beater against Southern Miss on Feb. 5, 60-58, in front of paid attendance of 2,236.
After guard Dior Connors buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 38 seconds remaining in the game to tie it at 58-58, all mayhem broke out at the Southern Miss end as the Eagles tried to get the last winning shot. A missed jumper by Eagle guard Andre Curbelo at the 13-second mark caromed off the rim and teammate Christian Watson tried to tip it in, but the put back missed and was collected by App State forward Jalil Beaubrun.
App State immediately called time out.
“It wasn’t me that called the timeout,” said head coach Dustin Kerns. “It was the players… It was a really good job by our players to call that timeout.”
As things turned out, it was the headiest of calls, stopping the clock and saving time.
For the second time in the 2024-2025 season, with seven seconds on the clock App State head coach Dustin Kerns designed a play for senior guard Myles Tate to take the last (and possible winning) shot — and for the second time Tate called a winning audible. With the clock winding down toward zero, he spotted graduate forward CJ Huntley in the lane and whistled the ball to him for a resounding dunk and the winning points. After a review by the game officials, it was confirmed that Huntley did in fact beat the buzzer — with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. For Southern Miss, it was just enough time to inbound the ball before “game over.”
After the game, Kerns was the first to remind reporters of a similar buzzer-beater in late November when, on a similar play designed for Tate to take the last shot, the redshirt senior instead found Dior Connors with an open look for the game-winner against William & Mary.
“I give assistant coach Tanner Smith credit for that last play tonight,” said Kerns, “getting Myles (Tate) on the run. They (Southern Miss) really triple-teamed him, which allowed CJ (Huntley) to leak out to the basket. I credit Myles for making the right play.
“The (designed play) was to get Myles downhill,” Kerns added, “with (forward) Jalil Beaubrun setting a screen and let Myles make a play. Myles Tate… it’s what makes him a winner… he made the winning play. That is the second time he has done that (in 2024-25), a play being designed for him but he trusted a teammate. It was a great job by CJ to go finish that and dunk it.”
App State carved out the win in spite of 12 turnovers on a night when shooting by both teams seemed to come at a premium. Opportunities to gain separation were squandered (by both teams) with errant passes or not protecting the ball.
“I give Southern Miss credit,” said Kerns. “They were really aggressive with us, especially with our ball screens. We expected them to play a different coverage. They came up with a game plan for us, which is very common. We did something different with them, too. They set us up for some of our mistakes. I give them credit for the turnovers.”
When push came to proverbial shove, it was App State’s conference-leading defense that may have saved the day.
After Connors tied the game at 58-all with 38 seconds left, it was Beaubrun who muscled in to collect the defensive rebound on Curbelo’s errant shot and Watson’s missed tip-in that could have given the Eagles a lead with 10 seconds left on the clock. Earlier, Beaubrun made his presence felt with what Kerns described later as a “monster block.” Huntley was ever present to secure one of his game-high 12 rebounds, matched only by Southern Miss forward Denijay Harris.
Along with his 12 rebounds, Huntley’s dunk at the final buzzer gave him a game-high 20 points and his second consecutive double-double. It was his sixth double-double of the season.
Both the Mountaineers and Eagles got the majority of their offensive production from inside the paint, App State with 34 points down low and Southern Miss with 32. Huntley and Beaubrun (12 points) were the only Mountaineers in double figures, but Tate and Connors added eight important points each. Reinforcing the inside theme, redshirt freshman center Luke Wilson came off the bench to add six points.
At 9-3 in Sun Belt Conference play, Arkansas State continues to hold on to the No. 1 spot in the standings, but App State (8-4) joins South Alabama, Troy, James Madison and Marshall in a tie for the coveted No. 2 seed.
The 5-way deadlock should sort itself out in the coming few weeks. After the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge game at Ohio on Feb. 8, the Mountaineers travel to Coastal Carolina (Feb. 13) and Georgia State (Feb. 15) before returning home to challenge Georgia Southern (Feb. 20) and Marshall (Feb. 22). They close out the regular season on the road with tilts at Georgia Southern (Feb. 25) and at Marshall (Feb. 28). The Sun Belt Conference Tournament is scheduled to begin March 4, with the championship game slated for March 10 in Pensacola, Fla. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds earn byes into the semifinals, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds into the quarterfinals.
