By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — App State men’s basketball stampeded past the Mid-Atlantic Christian University Mustangs on Dec. 3, 85-43. The mismatch against the small, Elizabeth City, N.C. private school provided the Mountaineers with ample opportunities to refine some individual and team skills while giving head coach Dustin Kerns an opportunity to see different combinations of players on the floor against an otherwise scrappy opponent.
Fourteen different Mountaineers saw at least six minutes of playing time, with the usual second tier of rotation players seeing the most opportunities on the hardwoods.
Alonzo Dodd poured in a game-high 19 in his almost 25 minutes on the court. Center Luke Wilson dominated inside play in recording 17 points to go along with 7 rebounds in just over 18 minutes of playing time. Starter C J Huntley only saw the court for a little more than seven minutes but certainly made the best of it as App State’s third player in double figures, with 14 points.
It was a special opportunity for teammates Huntley, Jackson Threadgill and Will Coble, who played high school basketball together at Davidson Day, as all three started against the Mustangs.
Point guard Myles Tate swooped down the lane for the Mountaineers’ first points of the night, just 19 seconds after Huntley won the tipoff. Coble followed with a 3-pointer and Huntley added consecutive “up and ins” with the game not even 90 seconds old, extending the App State lead to 9-0 — and prompting the Mustangs to call a timeout to gather themselves.
Although MACU was the next to score, the Mountaineers kept pouring it on, leading by 25 points by halftime. In a little less than 9 minutes on the court, Tate only scored four points, but was credited with 7 assists as he kept feeding his teammates.
Forward Michael Marcus, Jr. came off the bench to collect 10 rebounds and make two blocks to accompany his three points, two assists and a steal.
App State now has 10 days off to allow the student athletes to prepare and sit for exams before playing against High Point on Dec. 14, in Greensboro, at 2 p.m., in the Novant Health Fieldhouse at the Greensboro Complex.
They have two other road games before Christmas, opening Sun Belt Conference play at Louisiana, in Lafayette, La., on Dec. 18 (8 p.m. ET), then two days later in Denton, Texas, to face North Texas on Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET). They will be at home on Jan. 2 to face Troy in another Sun Belt Conference encounter.
