JONESBORO — John Brady said he had a bad feeling all week.
The Arkansas State coach didn’t like the week of practices leading up to Saturday night’s game, and he said he didn’t like his team’s demeanor in the locker room before the game started.
Turns out, Brady had reason to be concerned.
With a chance to stay in a tie at the top of the Sun Belt Conference standings, the Red Wolves fell into an early hole when they couldn’t make a shot, then couldn’t climb out of it when Appalachian State couldn’t miss, losing 86-72 in front of an announced crowd of 1,615 at the Convocation Center.
ASU (8-8, 4-1) missed its first 12 shots, 17 of its first 18 and trailed by 10 or more points for almost all of the final 35 minutes while missing out on a chance to start 5-0 in Sun Belt play for the first time in 15 seasons. The Red Wolves’ loss also ended a chance of Monday’s game against UALR being a matchup of conference unbeatens tied for first place.
“I didn’t like our preparation all week,” said Brady, who added that forward Charles Waters missed practice time because of an illness and Frederic Dure missed some with an elbow injury. “We should have had a better approach to begin with, but I don’t think you play any different than how you’re able to practice.”
Waters started but played four minutes, while forward Nouhoum Bocoum played five.
ASU missed its first six shots to fall into a 7-0 hole three minutes into the game. The streak reached 11 shots as Appalachian State (4-13, 2-4) went up 11-0 on a driving layup by Chris Burgess, prompting a timeout from Brady. By the time Donte Thomas scored ASU’s first points with a jumper almost six minutes into the game, the Red Wolves trailed 13-2 and was forced to play catchup.
The slow start spoiled a solid game from ASU forward Anthony Livingston, who missed his four shots before finishing with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Devin Carter added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Thomas had 12 points.
After the 1-for-18 start, ASU shot 48.0 percent (24-50) from the field, but couldn’t overcome the first eight minutes or Appalachian State’s Frank Eaves, who made 7 of 10 three-pointers and finished with 31 points.
Carter said ASU might have been looking ahead to Monday’s game against UALR (15-1, 5-0), which now sits alone at the top of the Sun Belt.
“We were excited to play, but at the same time, I know in the back of our head we were still thinking about Little Rock,” Carter said. “We were looking at their record, Appalachian State’s record, and we were asleep on them.”
ASU did enough offensively in the final 30 minutes to get back into the game. Livingston scored nine points on three jumpers and a three-pointer in a three-minute stretch of the first half to pull ASU within 40-30 with 2:33 left in the half. But Ronshad Shabazz answered with a three-pointer, and Appalachian State closed the half with seven consecutive points and a 47-30 lead.
“That hurt, for sure,” Livingston said. “We just couldn’t make a stop when we needed it.”
Eaves made it tough to do so. He entered second in the Sun Belt scoring at 19.5 points per game, but two days earlier he was held to a season-low 11 points at UALR on Thursday.
Against ASU, he didn’t make a shot from the field until a three-pointer with 7:40 left in the first half. That three kickstarted a string of 14 points in a four-minute span, capped by a three to put Appalachian State up 40-26.
ASU got within 60-48 with 12:50 left on two free throws by Carter. But Eaves answered with a jumper and ASU never got that close again.
“He made us look like we didn’t know what we were doing,” Brady said. “I knew we had to cut him off to have an opportunity to win the game, and we didn’t do it.”
Any chance ASU had of an improbable late comeback ended with 2:43 left, when Livingston made a layup to get within 79-66. Livingston was fouled on the play to go to the line, but Brady and assistant coach Melvin Haralson were each called for a technical foul.
SWAC MEN
SOUTHERN 69, UAPB 55
Southern spoiled UAPB’s home opener in front of 2,785 at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff with the 14-point victory.
UAPB (3-15, 1-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference) led only once, 5-4, on Trent Whiting’s three-pointer with 16:39 left in the first half.
Southern (11-7, 3-2) then outscored the Golden Lions 12-2 over the next 4 ½ minutes to take a 16-7 lead.
The Jaguars led 32-23 at halftime. They took their largest lead at 59-41 on two free throws by Adrian Rodgers with 6:31 left in the game.
UAPB could only trim the deficit to 11 points after two free throws by Ghiavonni Robinson with 1:41 left that made it 61-50.
Jared Sam and Rodgers led Southern with 15 points apiece, while Rashad Andrews added 12 for the Jaguars. Sam had a gamehigh eight rebounds.
Marquis Cunningham led UAPB with 15 points behind 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Thaddeus Handley had 13 points for the Golden Lions who shot 34.6 percent from the field, including 14.3 percent on three-pointers.
Sports on 01/17/2016