BOONE, N.C. – Tookie Brown netted 32 points to go over 1,000 for his career, but it was not enough as Appalachian State hung on for an 83-78 Sun Belt men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Monday night in the Holmes Center.
Brown scored over 30 points for the third time in his career and added nine rebounds and five assists. He scored his 1,000th point on a free throw with 9:36 left in the first half after getting fouled attempting a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Ike Smith recorded 19 points, five rebounds and three steals for Georgia Southern (16-10, 9-4).
Griffin Kinney scored a career-high 25 points and added nine rebounds for Appalachian State (8-16, 3-10), and Ronshad Shabazz contributed 12 points, five rebounds and four assists. Patrick Good chipped in 11 points and four rebounds.
The story
Brown's freebies were part of an 8-2 run that gave the Eagles a 28-19 advantage with 7:15 left in the first half, prompting the Mountaineers to take a timeout. App responded with a 22-5 run, keyed by seven points from Kinney and a pair of Good 3-pointers, and the Mountaineers led 41-33 at the break.
A pair of free throws by Kinney pushed the lead to 60-45 with 11:33 to play. The Eagles cut the deficit to 71-61 on a pair of free throws by Brown with four minutes remaining and had two possessions to trim it further but came away with no points. App's Good hit a long triple with a man in his face with 2:27 to play, and Emarius Logan and Kinney combined to make 9 of 10 from the free-throw line to seal the win.
App scored 36 points in the paint, and Kinney added another 13 points at the free throw line on 20 attempts.
Quotables from head coach Mark Byington
On the game
"Right now, we're an average basketball team, and we've been average to good most of the year. Average teams can't go on the road and win, and we have to make more of an investment. When you go on the road, it shows you what you are. It shows your weaknesses and shows your strengths, so we've been shown what we are and now it's our job to fix it. Guys have to care more and guys have to play smarter, and the coaches have to put them in better situations. The thing about this thing is that it can humble you in a second, but hopefully, it gets you re-focused and gets you back to where you need to go. The good thing is we have five more league games to go. We've been pretty good at times, usually at home, so we have to be able to fix it. We have to play much better and we have to do things a lot better. Where we are right now is not good enough."
On App's points in the paint
"What we've done in the past is trapped in the post to try to help our post guys out, but at some point, they have to stand their ground and be able to guard a guy one on one. We tried tonight so we could lock on to shooters and not give up rotations because we know how good of a 3-point shooting team they are. But Griffin Kinney just kicked us up and down the floor and dominated every single body that tried to guard them."
On Tookie Brown scoring 1,000 career points
"I'm going to tell you what kind of guy
Tookie Brown is. He played as hard as he possibly could and had 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and there is nobody in that locker room more hurt than him right now. He's tough, he's a winner, and I need to get a couple more guys to invest like him to where it's really, really, really important. He'd be fine if he scored two points and we won. What he's done here in two years is tremendous. I'm really proud of what he does and how he represents us the right way."
Next up
The Eagles play their final two home games of the season next week against Texas State (2/18) and UTA (2/20).
Promotions for Saturday: The game will be televised live on ESPN3. Cheerleader for a Day - Any child ages 4 to 14 has the opportunity to spend the day with the GS Cheerleading team. Participants will learn cheers, chants and important cheerleading skills from the very best, our own five-time National Champion Georgia Southern Eagle Cheerleaders. Halftime - Cheerleader Senior Recognition.
Promotions for Monday: The game will be televised live on ASN and ESPN3. Men's Basketball Senior Day - Join us as we honor the senior players for their hard work and determination in the classroom and on the court. Southern Explosion Dance Team Senior Day.
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, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.
