By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — In what evolved as a back and forth contest between host App State and visiting Troy on Jan. 2, in front of 2,406 basketball fans at the Holmes Convocation Center, it was a one-point basketball game with under three minutes to play. But with the clock winding down, the Trojans made “big time plays in big moments” and the Mountaineers didn’t. Result: Troy 69, App State 61.
Now 6-7 overall and 0-2 in the young Sun Belt Conference season, App State is playing exciting basketball, with thrills, spills and hustle aplenty. The Mountaineers just aren’t finishing. They have now lost four nailbiters in a row to some very good Division I teams: High Point, at Louisiana, at North Texas and back home vs. Troy. In crunch time, the shots just aren’t falling, even with open looks.
Going into the Jan. 2 matchup, Troy’s reputation included a pesky defense that forced a lot of turnovers, one of the top 40 teams in that department out of 355 Division 1 programs, according to the NCAA maintained statistics. The Mountaineers were able to thwart that supposed strength, only guilty of nine turnovers on the night vs. 12 committed by the Trojans. Advantage: Mountaineers.
Troy also had a reputation as a good 3-point shooting team. Against App State, they were 12-of-35 from beyond the arc (34.3 percent).
“We can live with that,” App State head coach Dustin Kerns pointed out after the game. “You have to credit Troy. They are a good team. Tonight they hit big time shots at the big moments and we didn’t.”
The Sequence
Although the Mountaineers held a 15-2 advantage in points off the opposing team’s turnovers, where they faltered was offensive production from the bench. Troy’s reserves outscored App State’s reserves, 21-4.
Among the Mountaineer starters, guard Myles Tate earned game-high scoring honors with 20 points, but only one teammate got into double figures, scoring. That was forward Jalil Beaubrun’s 12 points while also posting a team-high 7 rebounds.
Troy had three players in double figures scoring, including guard Tayton Conerway (16 points), forward Thomas Dowd (12) and guard Marcus Rigsby, Jr. (12).
The Trojans also played spoiler in the paint, with five blocks.
App State will look to get back in the scoring column on Saturday, Jan. 4, in a 1 p.m. tilt vs. Texas State at the Holmes Center. They follow with two additional home games before going back on the road, Wednesday, Jan. 8 vs. Coastal Carolina (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Jan. 11 vs. James Madison (1 p.m.).
