BOONE, N.C. – Justin Forrest scored a game-high 25 points and hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 on the clock to lift Appalachian State to a 74-72 Sun Belt men's basketball win over Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon in the Holmes Center.

Georgia Southern threw a pass the length of the court to Ike Smith, who turned and had a decent look at a long triple from the top of the key, but the shot missed the mark as time expired.

Eagles of the Game
Simeon Carter led the Eagles with 15 points to go along with four rebounds and a blocked shot. Quan Jackson finished with 13 points, five steals, four rebounds and four assists, while Smith tallied 13 points and four rebounds. David-Lee Jones Jr. netted 11 points.

Key moments
The Eagles (9-6, 3-1) led 71-67 late in the game and looked to be heading out on a fast break after Jackson blocked O'Showen Williams' 3-point try clean up top, but Jackson was whistled for a foul for contact to the body. Williams made 2 of 3 from the line, part of a 9-1 game-finishing run by the Mountaineers.

GS led 72-71 with under a minute to play when App rebounded a missed jumper by Smith and called timeout with 6.6 seconds remaining. The Mountaineers inbounded and got the ball to Forrest at the top of the key, and the junior dribbled, stepped back and hit the 25-foot triple with two Eagles draped on him.

The Eagles trailed by nine early in the contest but used a 16-3 run, keyed by a Jones Jr. 3-pointer and four points from Carter, to open a 28-24 advantage. Smith scored the final eight points of the half for the Eagles as GS capped the period with an 11-2 spurt to open a 39-29 halftime lead. Appalachian State (9-6, 3-1) opened the second half with a 13-2 run, keyed by an Isaac Johnson 3-pointer, to cut the margin to one point early in the period. 

Key stats
Appalachian State held the Eagles to 30 percent shooting in the second half, including 3 of 15 from long distance. The Mountaineers made 7 of 14 from 3-point land and shot 47 percent at the other end in the period.

Quotables by head coach Mark Byington
On the game-winning shot
"On the last play, we did everything right on defense. Forrest is a 31 percent 3-point shooter – we actually knew the play they were going to run – and he hit a tough shot. So give them credit. It's college basketball, and things like that happen. We missed some free throws there that could have helped separate it, and that was probably the bigger thing that allowed it to come down to the last play. And sure enough, we still got a good look to win the game at the end of it."

On the quick turnaround
"We have to bounce back. It's a heartbreaking loss, but we have another game in less than 48 hours, and we have to fly halfway across the country to get there. So, I love to see what we're made of and how we're going to respond to this."

Next up
Georgia Southern caps its stretch of three Sun Belt road games in five days as the Eagles travel to Little Rock Monday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.