Texas State fell 76-73 in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Appalachian State Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The Bobcats (18-7) led for 33 minutes in the game, shooting 43.1 percent from the floor (28-of-65), and dominated the paint 32-18. After shooting 3-of-12 from deep in the first half, the Mountaineers (15-11) knocked down nine triples and were 19-of-28 from the free-throw line in the second half and overtime periods.
Texas State led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but a 30-15 run by Appalachian State gave the visitors a 53-50 lead. App State stretched its lead to eight three times, including a 61-53 margin with 32 seconds left in regulation. From there, the Bobcats hit four consecutive 3-pointers in between the Mountaineers' free-throws. Three of the 3-pointers came from junior guard Caleb Asberry, including a buzzer-beater to force the game into overtime with the scoreboard reading 65-65.
Asberry opened the overtime period with another triple, but the Mountaineers outscored the Bobcats 11-5 that was highlighted by an 8-3 run to pull off the upset. Ten of the Mountaineer's points in OT were scored by senior guard Justin Forrest and graduate guard Michael Almonacy.
"I have a tough team and a great group of guys that I would not trade for the world," said interim head coach Terrence Johnson. "We played a passionate game tonight and came up short. All is not lost. We did our job in competing and let the chips fall where they may. We will give credit to Coach Kerns and his team. They did the things they needed to do tonight in stepping up, making big buckets, and making big shots. They did not fold in overtime. But I am still proud of my group for this season. I love these guys and we will run it back next year."
Junior guard Mason Harrell turned in his third 20-point game this season, shooting 9-of-17 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. Harrell also finished with seven rebounds, a game-high three steals, and added two assists. Asberry followed with 17 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds to record his first double-double at Texas State. Asberry was 6-of-16 from the field and 4-of-9 from behind-the-arc. Senior forward Isiah Small registered 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Junior forward Nighael Ceaser rounded out the top scorers with 10 points and was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. Ceaser also finished with three rebounds, two blocks, one assist, and one steal.
Forrest put up 28 points and out of his five made field goals, four of them were from 3-point range. Forrest drew 12 fouls in the game and was 14-of-17 from the charity stripe. Forrest also had six rebounds and two assists. Almonacy had 23 points (8-of-14) with 15 coming from deep. He also had six rebounds and finished with three assists and a steal. Junior guard Adrian Delph finished with 16 points and added eight rebounds and one assist.
