BOONE, N.C. – Old Dominion men’s basketball built a 36-17 halftime lead and held off a second-half charge by App State to come away with a 75-73 victory on Saturday at the Holmes Convocation Center.
“It’s always better to be able to learn from a win than it is from a loss,” said ODU head coach Mike Jones. “We’ll take the win. Amazing first half by our guys, especially on the defensive end of the floor. We’ve got to get to the point where we’re doing it for 40 minutes. Fortunately we were able to get it done tonight, but that’s not going to be good enough next Wednesday, next Saturday, or any other Sun Belt game that we play.”
Up by as many as 20 points, the Monarchs (6-14, 3-5 Sun Belt) saw their lead cut to just two points, 72-70 with 26 seconds on the clock. The Mountaineers (11-9, 4-4) sent Drew McKenna to the line, but he missed both of his shots. Fortunately, Jalen Tot’s three-point attempt with 18 seconds left was off the mark and Jordan Battle was fouled when he came up with the defensive rebound. The Norfolk native made both of his free throws to put ODU up, 74-70.
App State had another look at a three with nine seconds to go, but Kasen Jennings also missed and the hosts were forced to foul Zacch Wiggins, who went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe. McKenna would foul Alonzo Dodd on a late three-point attempt, and he came through for the Mountaineers with a 3-for-3 effort at the line. Following an Old Dominion timeout with 0.7 seconds left, the inbounds pass was knocked away as the Monarchs earned the road win.
Battle paced the offense with a season-high 25 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor and four made three-pointers. He also made 7-of-9 free throw attempts and added seven rebounds with four assists and one steal. Jared Turner and LJ Thomas followed with nine points each and Zacch Wiggins chipped in eight points.
ODU shot 51.0% (25-for-49) from the field, including 47.8% (11-for-23) from distance, and 60.9% (14-for-23) at the free-throw line. The Monarchs led for over 39 minutes and were up by as many as 20 points.
“We shoot free throws decently, and tonight it didn’t show,” continued Jones. “That’s something we’ve got to be better at, especially down the stretch. We got a freshman at the line for a couple of those, and I will give him all the credit for knocking down the four that he did. LJ’s got to be better, he knows that. Jordan has got to make all of his. And then just being able to get the ball to the guys we want for them to be the ones that get fouled are things that we’re just going to have to lock in on being able to do as well.”
App State won the opening tip, but it was Battle with the first points of the game as he knocked down a corner three in front of the Mountaineer bench. The home team pulled even at 3-3 as Jennings scored a layup and Luke Wilson added a 1-for-2 effort at the stripe, but a couple of Caelum Swanton-Rodger layups highlighted a 6-0 run that pushed the ODU lead to 9-3 at the 16:20 mark.
ODU went up by eight, 16-8 as Robert Davis Jr. made a three from the right wing and Thomas followed with a jumper. App State then took advantage of multiple ODU turnovers as buckets by Jennings and Chad Moodie narrowed the gap, 16-12 with 10:16 remaining in the first half.
That’s when the Monarchs took off with another seven unanswered. McKenna started off the run with a jumper, Battle made both of his shots at the line, and Turner made a long ball from the left wing for a 23-12 advantage at the 6:31 mark. Wilson earned a trip to the line and converted both of his free throws, but Battle went 1-for-2 at the stripe and McKenna nailed a perimeter shot from the right side to make it 27-14.
App State’s Eren Banks responded with a three of his own, but Battle and Turner combined for three triples to round out the opening stanza. That late 9-0 push gave the Monarchs a 36-17 cushion at halftime.
Swanton-Rodger only scored four points and grabbed seven boards in nearly 14 minutes of action before fouling out with 50 seconds left.
With ODU ahead 46-26 on a Battle three-pointer at the 16:49 mark in the second half, App State took off with a 16-3 run to trim the Monarch lead to 49-47. Scottie Hubbard ended the scoring drought with a triple from the right corner. Battle then got to the line with 9:57 to go and converted both of his free-throw attempts, then added a layup at the 9:11 mark to put ODU ahead, 56-42.
App State refused to go away, though, as a long ball from Tot saw the Mountaineers trailing by just three, 71-68 with 40 seconds remaining.
Asked about the impact of his senior forward, Jones said, “It wasn’t about him scoring, it was about him rebounding the basketball. He played 13 minutes and had seven rebounds and was amazing at guarding the rim. He was amazing at getting the ball off the glass. If we get that version of him, I think he’s one of the best if not the best bigs in our league, and that gives us another element that we definitely need. Obviously, there’s been a couple of games where we’ve missed that.”
Up Next
The Monarchs will be back in Norfolk next week when they host Troy at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21. They’ll then welcome Louisiana for a 7 p.m. game at Chartway Arena on Saturday, Jan. 24. ODU will also retire Ronnie Valentine’s jersey during the meeting with the Ragin’ Cajuns.