By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Redshirt senior Myles Tate has been a part of many clutch moments in his short basketball career at App State but none more clutch than in the end of the Nov. 24 game vs. William & Mary at the Holmes Convocation Center.
In a play drawn up with 19 seconds left — for Tate to take the final shot — and the game tied 76-76, Tate received the inbounds pass, worked the ball to the top of the 3-point arc, but found himself well-defended. Out of the corner of his eye (with seven seconds remaining), the veteran guard saw teammate Dior Conners open on the left wing.
“It was muscle memory,” said Conners to reporters later, explaining how he had received the pass with two seconds left, got the shot off with 0.2 showing on the clock after the ball had left his hands, then joined the exuberant celebration as the ball ripped through the net for the win, 79-76.
Muscle memory, to be sure, those hours, days and weeks of practicing for just those moments paying off.
It was fitting drama for head coach Dustin Kerns’ 100th win at the helm of the Mountaineer program and the third fastest to get there at 167 games, surpassing Bobby Cremins and Bob Light, who each required 170 games.
Although the Mountaineers led by 19 points, 53-34, with just over 17 and a half minutes remaining in the game and by 17 points with 12:35 left, 58-41, the Tribe battled back to tie the game at 76-all with 19 seconds left, helped by key 3-pointers off the hands of freshman guard from Arizona, Gabe Dorsey, and junior guard from Silver Spring, Md., Kyle Pulliam, complimented by crafty inside play from Noah Collier, a senior forward who transferred from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022.
It was Collier, in fact, who made a shot inside with 19 seconds remaining, to close within a point at 76-75, but was also fouled on the play and drained his third free throw of the evening to tie things up.
It was perhaps fitting that a 3-pointer proved the buzzer-beating difference for the win. The Mountaineers had jumped out to the big early lead in the first half on the strength of 55.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc (10-of-18) before “cooling” to a 45.5 percent clip (5-of-11) in the second half. Conners was a torrid 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from long range for the game while teammate Jamil Muttilib was 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from 3-point land.
Muttilib is a Houston native and junior transfer from Kilgore College, a small junior college in Kilgore, Texas, averaged 19 points per game for the Rangers.
Conners, an Ohio native, also joined the Mountaineers this year from the junior college ranks, transferring as a junior from Triton College in River Grove, Ill., a western Chicago suburb. He drained 137 career 3-pointers in his two seasons at Triton, while helping the Trojans to a 34-3 record and NJCAA National runner-up finish a year ago.
In speaking with reporters after the game, Kerns said one of the things the coaches had asked of Muttilib and Conners is that the score more, having arrived at App State with those scoring pedigrees.
Kerns also was quick to point out the magnitude of Tate’s selfless moment in passing the ball to an open teammate on a play designed for him to take the shot.
“There are a lot of guys who would have taken the shot anyway,” said Kerns, praising Tate for recognizing the moment, that he was well guarded and trusting his open teammate.
App State finished the game shooting almost 52 percent from long distance against the Tribe, which countered with only a 29 percent clip, 9-of-31, from beyond the arc. Where William & Mary was able to keep it close, though, was a 17-7 point differential in second chance points, hitting on 9-of-10 free throws (90 percent), a 27-17 advantage in points from their bench, and a surprisingly stronger rate of production inside, tallying 40 points in the paint vs. only 18 for the Mountaineers.
Four App State players scored in double figures on the afternoon, including a game-high 20 by Tate, 15 by Conners, 14 from C J Huntley, and 12 from Muttilib. Tate also dished out 10 assists for the first double-double of his App State career. Collier pulled in a game-high 8 rebounds for The Tribe, with Jamil Beaubrun the Mountaineers’ leader on the boards, with 7 rebounds. Jackson Threadgill, Tate, and Michael Marcus, Jr. led the Mountaineers with two steals each.
The Mountaineers’ dismal performance at the free throw line is of concern as the season progresses. Through Nov. 23 games, App State was No. 352 out of 355 NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs, with a free throw percentage of just 57.89 percent, according to statistics maintained and published by the NCAA.
App State (3-2) will spend Thanksgiving in Wilmington, N.C., playing three games beginning with Sam Houston State (3-2) on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 4 p.m., in the first game of the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic hosted by UNCW. They return to the UNCW court on Friday, Nov. 29, for a noon encounter with Colgate University (1-4). They close the tournament on Nov. 30, in a 3 p.m. tilt vs. UNCW (3-1).
