By Jacob Plecker. WILMINGTON, N.C. — In the finale of the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic, the App State Mountaineers (5-3) fell to the tournament host UNC-Wilmington (5-2), 61-76 on Saturday.
Regardless of the result, the Mountaineers finished the tournament 2-1 and defeated two NCAA Division I programs (Sam Houston and Colgate) that won their respective conference regular-season championships a season ago.
Jalil Beaubrun and Alonzo Dodd posted their best games in a Mountaineer uniform against UNCW, tallying 16 and 11 point,s respectively. Beaubrun also recorded the Mountaineers’ third double-double of the year, and his first as a Mountaineer, adding a season-best 11 rebounds. Dodd, who had been held scoreless in each of his last three outings, also tallied a season-best, on 4-of-5 shooting.
On the heels of two physical contests that opened the tournament, the Mountaineers struggled on the offensive glass against UNCW as the Seahawks grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and turned them into 15 second-chance points. Additionally, the Mountaineers couldn’t get anything going from deep, making just two 3-pointers on 17 attempts from behind the arc.
How it Happened
The finale was a tightly contested ball game, the lead changeing hands six times in the first five minutes. The Seahawks opened the scoring with a Donovan Newby 3-pointer, but the Mountaineers took their first lead at 5-4 off a CJ Huntley hook shot with 17:22 in the first half.
UNCW quickly regained the lead thanks to a Khamari McGriff jumper but Huntley answered right back, throwing down a two-handed dunk off a slick alley-oop pass from Myles Tate. A play later, Huntley was at it again, viciously slamming home a dunk over a Seahawk defender to put the Mountaineers ahead 8-7. Huntley accounted for six of the first eight Mountaineer points.
The Seahawks scored a basket just before the first media stoppage in the first half and never trailed again. Nolan Hodge, who tallied a season-best 15 points against App State, kicked off his night with a layup and Harlan Obioha converted on an “and-one” chance to put UNCW ahead by four at the 14:52 mark.
App State kept it close in the first half as Jackson Threadgill scored his first points of the game to keep the Mountaineer deficit at just two. Then, it was Huntley who nailed a hook shot to make it 14-12 in the first half. But the Seahawks scored the game’s next four points to take a six-point lead into the under-12 break.
As play crept under the 10-minute mark before intermission, it was still a close contest as the two teams traded baskets. Dodd got his season-best night started with a three from the right wing to bring the Mountaineers back within two points. The Seahawks answered with a three to go back ahead by five, but Beaubrun stuck with a missed Mountaineer shot and put back a layup to bring the score within three with eight minutes to play in the opening stanza.
A Tate three at the 4:41 mark of the first half brought the Seahawks’ advantage back down to three, but the home team answered by scoring eight of the game’s next 10 points to take an 11-point lead into halftime. Huntley, Tate and Beaubrun accounted for 28 of App State’s 33 points in the first half. UNCW shot it well in the opening stanza, making 53 percent of their shot attempts while also grabbing seven offensive rebounds.
Out of the break, the Seahawks scored six consecutive points to build their lead to 16 with 18 minutes to go. Two straight 3-pointers from Sean Moore rang the net as UNCW extended its lead.
Huntley ended the run with a free throw, but the UNCW advantage shot to 19 points after the under-16 timeout thanks to another 3-pointer. The Mountaineer deficit sank to 20 after a fourth second-half Seahawk three hit the net. App State struggled after halftime, missing five of its first six shots while turning the ball over three times.
After going ahead by 22 with 13:27 to play, UNCW endured a shooting drought which gave the Mountaineers a chance to mount a comeback. The Mountaineers found some momentum and cut into the deficit, scoring eight of the game’s next nine points to trim the UNCW lead back to 13 points with eight minutes left in regulation. The Seahawks ended their drought with a back-breaking 3-pointer from Josh Corbin at the shot-clock buzzer to jump back ahead by 16 at the under-eight minutes timeout.
Unfazed by the last-second shot, App State continued to work and trimmed the UNCW lead down to 12 by the 7:38 mark, which was the closest the game had gotten since halftime. Beaubrun cracked double figures with a layup and Dodd sank a pair of free throws to get it to that point.
Keeping the pressure on, App State forced two fouls to stop the clock, giving the Mountaineers a chance to score at the free-throw line. With the Seahawks now ahead by 13 with five minutes to go, the Mountaineers forced a stop on the defensive end and trimmed their deficit down to just 11 points thanks to a fastbreak dunk by Huntley. But it was another shot by McGriff late in the shot clock that halted any more momentum as the Seahawks went ahead by 15 by the final media stoppage.
The Seahawks continued to score at the free-throw line and eventually closed out the game with a 15-point victory. App State finished 2-1 at the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic and has won four of its last five games at in-season, mutli-team events.
Top Performers
CJ Huntley paced all scorers in the final game of the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic, scoring 17 points. He was aggressive to start the game, tallying 11 of those points in the first half, and now needs just 45 points to eclipse 1,000 in his Mountaineer career. Jalil Beaubrun was stellar against the Seahawks, recording his sixth career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Beaubrun was also a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. Alonzo Dodd was the third Mountaineer to reach double figures against UNCW, tallying a season-best 11.
Up Next
App State will return home to begin the month of December as it hosts the Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs on Tuesday. Dec. 3. The matchup with the Mustangs will be the Mountaineers’ only home game of December. After that game, the Mountaineers will not play a game at the Holmes Center until Jan. 2, 2025. Tipoff from the Holmes Center is slated for 6:30 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.