BOONE, N.C. - Robert Davis Jr. and Sean Durugordon combined for 44 points to lead Old Dominion to a hard-fought, come-from-behind, 78-77 victory at App State on Wednesday night.
With the win, ODU splits this season’s Sun Belt series against App State at one apiece.
The Monarchs improved to a 10-12 overall record, 6-4 in the Sun Belt, while App State fell to a 12-9 overall record and 6-4 in the Sun Belt.
Durugordon, the senior from Harlem, N.Y., led all scorers with 25 points. He finished with 12 rebounds for a double-double and had five offensive rebounds. Davis Jr. had 19 points, going 7-12 from the field, and 4-6 from behind the arc. Durugordon went 9-14 from the field and was 3-6 from deep. Freshman Jaden Johnson finished with seven assists and six points and R.J. Blakney played 37 minutes, scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds.
With two minutes remaining Alonzo Dodd made a pair of free throws to even the game at 71 apiece. Swanton-Rodger responded with a contested layup in the paint and regained the lead 73-71 for ODU. Jalil Beaubrun went 50% at the line on the following possession and neither team scored again until the 30 second mark. Johnson came up clutch at the free throw line, with Johnson going 2-2 to go up by three. Myles Tate hit a jumper to trim the ODU lead to one. App fouled on the inbounds and fellow freshman Caden Diggs went 2-2 to regain a three-point lead, 77-74 with 18 seconds left. A missed three pointer by Tate was grabbed by Durugordon who went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Tate hit a half-court three-pointer at the buzzer for the final 78-77 margin.
App State stormed out to a 13-4 lead by the 13:54 mark in the first half before taking their largest lead of the game after Michael Marcus Jr. hit a three to put the Mountaineers up by 12 at the halfway point of the opening stanza. The Monarchs began chipping away at the deficit, cutting the home team’s lead to five by halftime with App State leading 38-33.
By the 16:24 mark in the second half ODU had evened the score 45-45 after Caleum Swanton-Rodger scored in the paint. Durugordon hit a three at 15:48 to give ODU its first lead of the night. The largest lead that either team could muster afterwards was four points in the back-and-forth contest.
There were nine lead changes and seven ties throughout the game. ODU combined to shoot 28-57 (49%) from the field and 9-21 (42.9%) from deep. The Monarchs chipped in with 12 assists, two blocks, six steals, and 16 bench points.
Old Dominion will travel to face off against JMU in the TowneBanke Royal Rivalry on Saturday.