Men’s Basketball Reaches 20 Wins with 77-58 Victory at App

Thursday, February 26

Boone, NC

7:30 PM

Georgia Southern University

20-6 (13-4SBC)

Appalachian State

9-17 (6-11SBC)

Georgia Southern

Appalachian State

Angel Matias

Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics

Men’s Basketball Reaches 20 Wins with 77-58 Victory at App

2/26/2015 10:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Eagles take on UL Lafayette in the Cajundome Saturday.

BOONE, N.C. – Angel Matias collected 15 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Georgia Southern retained at least a share of first place in the Sun Belt Conference with a 77-58 men's basketball victory over Appalachian State in the Holmes Center Thursday night.

Trent Wiedeman added 12 points for the Eagles (20-6, 13-4), while Devonte Boykins and Curtis Diamond each netted nine. Ten of 15 players who saw action for Georgia Southern scored.

It's the first 20-win campaign for Georgia Southern since 2005-06, the eighth in the Division I era and the 16^th overall. It was the Eagles' first win at Appalachian State since 2004.

Georgia Southern jumped out to a 20-2 lead as the Eagles held the Mountaineers scoreless for five minutes between their first and second baskets. Matias scored seven of the Eagles' first nine points of the game, and Boykins came off the bench and chipped in six points.

Appalachian State used 3-pointers to get back in the contest and trimmed the margin to 29-20 on a Dustin Clarke layup with 2:41 left in the frame. The Eagles capped the half with a 7-1 run, with five points coming from Mike Hughes, and Georgia Southern led 36-20 at the break.

"Coach talked to us about the last time we had a win in this arena so we came out with a lot of energy," said Matias. "They are a very physical team, and we tried to match their physicality. Everybody who played today made plays, and it was a total team win."

The margin never dipped below 14 points in the second half and grew to as many as 24 points on a layup by Eric Ferguson midway through the period and again with 1:14 to play on free throw by Coye Simmons.

Frank Eaves led Appalachian State (9-17, 6-11) with 15 points, and Dustin Clarke scored eight.

The Eagles travel to take on UL Lafayette in the Cajundome Saturday. Tipoff is set for 8:15 p.m. Eastern.

All-session ticket books to this year's Sun Belt Basketball Championships March 11-15, in New Orleans are available for $99 at the Georgia Southern Ticket Office. Call 1-800-GSU-WINS!

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.