Men's Basketball Sun Belt Conference

App State Wins in OT Again, Advance to First SBC Championship Final

PENSACOLA, Fla. - App State cashed in on its second-straight overtime win Sunday night, eliminating Coastal Carolina for the second year in a row to advance to the Mountaineers' first Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship final.

The Mountaineers (16-11) made 20 field goals in their Sun Belt Conference semifinal, but 10 of them were 3-pointers. Defensively, 22 forced turnovers, including a picked pocket at midcourt by Dinovan Gregory with one second left, helped App State to a 64-61 win over CCU in their first meeting this season. App State scored 20 points off turnovers, including two crucial free throws from Justin Forrest with 10 seconds remaining in overtime to make it a two-possession game. 

“Our goal was to slow the pace down, and we did exactly that,” said head coach Dustin Kerns of the Mountaineers. “They were undefeated when they have more than 70 possessions, they hadn’t won when they had under 70 possessions, and I think that probably continued tonight.”

Coastal came out and methodically built a nine point lead in the first five minutes of the game, opening the night with a 14-5 run. The lead grew to 11 moments later, but App State responded with a 13-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 20-18 with 4:21 to play in the half. 

That momentum was short-lived, as the Chanticleers answered with a prolonged run of their own. Coastal held App State scoreless for the remainder of the period, and closed the half with an 11-0 run to take a 29-20 lead into intermission.

App State held close in the opening minutes of the second half, and with just less than 15 minutes to play, the perimeter attack of Forrest and Michal Almonacy erupted. The duo combined for four straight 3-pointers that turned a 35-30 deficit into a 42-35 lead. 

After that run, though, the Mountaineers went cold from the floor and the Chanticleers crept back in front. A pair of free throws from Garrick Green gave Coastal a 48-44 lead with 3:09 to go in regulation, but then it was Coastal’s turn to go into a shooting slump. The Mountaineers scored seven straight points to take the lead back, 51-48, but Devante’ Jones was fouled and awarded three free throws with only 17 seconds to play, and he buried all three tosses. A last-second 3-pointer by Forest missed to the right of the iron as time expired, sending the game to overtime for the second night. 

Adrian Delph connected from deep just 19 seconds into the extra session, and with 2:49 left, he buried another long range shot to give App State the lead at 57-55. Ebrima Dibba tied the game 30 seconds latre, but but with 51 seconds to play, App State’s RJ Duhart put in a layup that gave the Mountaineers the lead for good.

Almonacy and Delph led all scorers with 19 points each in the game. Forrest had 13 for App State. Gregory turned in only four points, but flirted with a double-double, possibly a triple-double, with 14 rebounds, eight steals and six assists. 

Jones led the Chanticleers with 16 points, Essam Mostafa added 15 tallies and nine rebounds, and Dibba chipped in 10. Jones and Dibba each also grabbed 10 boards to record double-doubles, and Green narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

The win advances the Mountaineers to the SBC title game for the first time since the Mountaineers joined the SBC for the 2014-15 season. They are seeking their first conference tournament win and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000.

App State will take on the Georgia State University Panthers (16-5) for the SBC’s title, which carries with it the Conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The teams met three times this season, with App State winning the first two, before Georgia State won the last meeting. Neither team beat the other away from home in those three games.

The title game is slated to tip-off at 6 p.m. CT at the Bay Center, and it will be televised on ESPN2.