ODU Men's Basketball Team Falls to App State, 62-43

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Head Coach Mike Jones warned his Old Dominion’s men’s basketball team that the Monarchs had to be prepared to play a rough-and-tumble game against a physically imposing opponent Thursday night.

Unfortunately for the Monarchs, on this night App State’s physicality was too much for them to handle.

The Mountaineers outscored ODU in the paint, 34-18, and rolled to a 62-43 victory over ODU on Thursday night before 4,529 at Chartway Arena.

“Thank God we play again on Saturday,” said Jones, whose Monarchs host Georgia Southern Saturday at 3:30.

The 43 points marked a season low for ODU (8-10 overall, 4-2 in the Sun Belt), which had claimed first place in the conference last weekend with a 71-63 overtime victory at South Alabama. ODU entered Thursday having won five of its last six games.

While the Jaguars had a diminutive lineup, App State (10-7, 4-2) is one of the Sun Belt’s biggest teams and is second in the league in defense.

App State was led by CJ Huntley, a 6-foot-11, 221-pound graduate student, who had 26 points and 12 rebounds. Jalil Beaubrun (6-9, 240 pounds) added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Monarchs shot poorly, making 15 of 49 shots (30.6%) and had just four assists and 11 turnovers.

“This game was very disappointing,” Jones said. “That’s a very well coached team over there, a big physical team, and they played the game they needed to play to beat us here tonight. We did not do what we needed to do to win.

“I’m disappointed, but it’s part of the process. We’re going to keep fighting.”

ODU trailed, 29-18, after a first half that started very slowly. ODU missed its first eight shots and trailed, 14-1, five minutes into the game.

Guard Sean Durugordon, who had 10 points, made ODU’s first shot with 13:30 left in the first half, which trimmed the App State lead to 16-6.

ODU went on another cold streak and Myles Tate made a layup with 11:05 left and the Monarchs trailed, 23-6.

ODU rallied a bit in the final minutes, with Robert Davis Jr., who led ODU with 11 points, making a driving layup with 48 seconds left to trim the lead to 29-18.

Jones said the Monarchs managed to keep the game relatively close in the first half with its defense.

“I was impressed with our defense” late in the first half, he said. “I called a timeout out just under 12 minutes and they had 23 points. They finished the half with 29.

“They scored six points in about 11 minutes.

“That Old Dominion defense will give you a chance to beat anybody. But we needed that for 40 minutes and we did not get that.

“The physicality, you know, the fight that we had for that time period, that physicality wears you down. They had four guys 6-9 or bigger and we just didn’t answer the bell tonight.”

Seven-foot ODU center Caelum Swanton-Rodger missed most of the first half with two fouls and was assessed his third foul 45 seconds into the second half when Beaubrun made a layup.

The Monarchs trailed by double-digits the rest of the way. App State scored four consecutive baskets over a two-minute stretch, capped by Tate’s layup with 4:34 left that gave the Mountaineers a 20-point lead.

“We knew it was going to be a battle, we knew it was going to be a fight,” said point guard Jaden Johnson, who had eight points and seven rebounds.

“We got kicked in the mouth tonight, but we can’t let this game affect us. We’ve been playing well, so we’re going to continue that trend and just look forward to Saturday and being able to get a win.”

Saturday’s game is the second of a doubleheader with the ODU women's basketball team, who host Texas State at 1.

It is alumni night for both teams.

ODU will honor the 1975 men’s team that won the Division II national championship 50 years ago. It was the first national title for ODU.

Most members of that team, including Wilson Washington and Oliver Purnell, will be honored at halftime.

Ten family members of the late Sonny Allen, who coached the 1975 Monarchs, will attend the game, including his son, Billy Allen, who played for his father at SMU and Nevada.

ODU will also honor the 40^th anniversary of the 1985 women's basketball national championship team and 45^th anniversary of the 1980 national championship team. Members of the 1979 national championship team will also be honored.

Marianne Stanley, who coached all three ODU national championship games, will be in attendance.