By David Rogers. WILIMINGTON, N.C. — A slow start quickly morphed into a flash fire on Nov. 29, with Appalachian State men’s basketball storming to a convincing, 72-50 win over Colgate at Trask Coliseum. It was the first game of the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic’s second day, with the win leaving the Mountaineers 2-0 for their trip to the coast and 5-2 on the young, 2024-25 season.
After a barrage of 3-point shooting and 50 percent shooting from the field, overall, helped the Raiders dismantle tournament host UNC-Wilmington on Nov. 27, 72-59, App State expected a challenge, particularly from the perimeter. But the Mountaineers were able to limit Colgate’s outside shooting and instead beat them at their own game.
Behind a long distance performance for the ages by senior Myles Tate in the first half. After the first media timeout, the Mountaineers scored 20 consecutive points, including three straight 3-pointers by Tate, to take a 19-point lead, a margin that barely shrank at any time for the rest of the game.
Tate finished the contest shooting 4-of-8 (50 percent) from behind the 3-point arc, accounting for 15 total points on the afternoon. Forward C J Huntley missed on all three of his 3-point attempts but it hardly mattered as he went on to put down a game-high 19 points. Center Jalil Beaubrun was also in double figures for the day’s work, landing 11 points to go with 6 rebounds.
The Raiders have been to the NCAA “March Madness” tourney seven times, including five of the last six years. They were the Patriot League’s regular season champions in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024. They didn’t win the league’s regular season in 2021, but they made up for it by being the conference tourney champions that year. An interesting tidbit: Colgate started its basketball program in 1900-01.
The Mountaineers were not intimidated by the Raiders’ pedigree, to be sure. dominating in five primary categories:
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- Points from turnovers: APP 23, COL 7
- Points in the paint: APP 36, COL 20
- Second chance points: APP 11, COL 5
- Fast break points: APP 12, COL 7
- Points scored by bench: APP 16, COL 8
The bench points advantage came in spite of the court time being dominated by four Mountaineers each playing more than 30 of the 40 game minutes. That included Tate (33 minutes), Huntley (35 minutes), Jackson Threadgill (35 minutes) and Dior Conners (32 minutes). The fifth starter, Beaubrun, was on the court for 21 minutes. The only other players to get meaningful court time were Luke Wilson (16 minutes) and Anthony Alston (12 minutes). Alston poured in 8 points off the bench while Wilson added four as well as six rebounds.
Next up for the Mountaineers will be the tournament finale against host UNC-Wilmington on Saturday, Nov. 30, with tipoff slated for 3 p.m., following the noon curtain-raiser between Colgate and Sam Houston State.
UNCW salvaged its host weekend by defeating Sam Houston State on Nov. 29, 69-60, after falling to Colgate on the tournament’s first day, 72-59.
