By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It took almost three minutes before either host App State or visiting Old Dominion found the bottom of a net at the Holmes Convocation Center on Feb. 28, but once the Mountaineers’ Donovan Gregory rolled in a layup, App State didn’t know how to stop.
And, they played defense, too. When Tre’Von Spillers electrified the crowd with a dunk and Christopher Mantis elevated the pandemonium with a “three” just 16 seconds later, App State led 24-4 and led coast-to-coast in this 89-64 AppNation thriller.
Almost 5,000 people (4,785) witnessed what can only be called a “statement” game by the Mountaineers. If anyone doubted their supremacy at the top of the Sun Belt Conference in 2024, they should be thinking again after this performance. Now in his fifth year of building the App State men’s hoops program, Dustin Kerns brought together a balanced team featuring three big men in Spillers, Justin Abson, and C J Huntley, and surrounded them with perimeter shooters who can also drive fearlessly down the lane in Terence Harcum, Myles Tate, Donovan Gregory, Xavion Brown, Jordan Marsh and Christopher Mantis.
With the win, App State tied the program record of 25 wins in a season. The earlier team was in 2006-07, when the Mountaineers went 25-8. Houston Fancher was the App State head coach then and the team was competing in the Southern Conference.
App State also secured the No. 1 seed for the Sun Belt Conference tournament that begins next week in Pensacola, Fla. It marks the first time for a one seed in a conference tournament since 1978-79. During that campaign competing in the SoCon, the Mountaineer lineup featured centers Mel Hubbard (6-8) and Charles Payton (6-5), as well as guard Darryl Robinson and forward Renaldo Lawrence.
The home win in the Holmes Center was the 14th straight, tying the facility’s record for wins in a season with one more game to play on Friday, Mar. 1.
Among the most impressive stats for Wednesday’s home game against Old Dominion was “zero,” reflecting the number of second chance points scored by the Monarchs. Afterward, Spillers told reporters that it is being first to the ball on a missed shot. In other words, rebounding.
“You have to hit first,” said Spillers. “That’s the biggest thing in rebounding is to hit first on defensive rebounds so they don’t get a second chance.”
Overall, the Mountaineers outrebounded the Monarchs by 20 (47-27), including Spillers recording his ninth double-double of the season — and he did it by the first half when he took 11 points and 12 rebounds into the locker room at intermission.
Helping the Mountaineers gain scoring separation vs. the Monarch were three made 3-pointers by Christopher Mantis within roughly three minutes around the midpoint of the first half. His third “three” at the 9:51 mark of the opening half gave App State a 22-point lead at 32-10. With Gregory, Spillers and Tate leading the way for the rest of the half, the Mountaineers closed to a 25-point lead at the half, 51-26. The 51 first half points was the most the Mountaineers have scored against a Division I opponent during the current campaign.
Now with a 6-game winning streak (14 consecutive wins at the Holmes Center), App State will look to turn back the 4th-place Arkansas State Red Wolves on Fri., March 1, 6:30 p.m. It is also Senior Night, when the Mountaineers will celebrate the careers of Donovan Gregory, Bryant Greene and C J Huntley.
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