Boone, N.C. -- Appalachian State’s Justin Forrest always gets a little jacked up to play Georgia State and Friday night he took it out on the Panthers again.
The Decatur native and son of former Georgia Tech great James Forrest sparked a late 8-0 run and scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Mountaineers to an 80-71 win over Georgia State.
That ended Georgia State’s four-game winning streak against Appalachian State and put the Mountaineers (11-5, 5-2) in first place in the Eastern Division of the Sun Belt Conference, just ahead of Georgia State (8-3, 2-2).
The two teams will complete the weekend series on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Forrest, who attended Greenforest Christian in Decatur, changed the momentum of the game with five minutes left. Georgia State had scored six straight points and taken a 64-61 lead when Corey Allen followed a missed shot.
Forrest got fouled the next time down the court and made the first free throw. The second was missed, but tipped out beyond the key by Gregory Donovan, who fired it back to Forrest. He made a driving basket and drew a foul. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play and Appalachian State regained the lead at 65-64.
Collin Moore converted a turnover into a fast-break basket for Georgia State, but it turned out to be the last lead for the Panthers. Appalachian State outscored Georgia State 15-5 over the final four minutes and scored just two points in the final minute.
Forrest, a 6-foot-2 senior, was 8-for-13 from the field, 5-for-7 from the line, and made two 3-pointers. He moved into ninth place on the school’s career scoring list with 1,604 points.
Georgia State never seemed to get into its offensive rhythm and made only 4 of 14 3-pointers, fewer than half its average of 9.4 per game. Eliel Nsoseme was an inside force with 16 points and eight rebounds and Kane Williams returned after missing Saturday’s game against Coastal Carolina and scored 14. Moore scored 11 points and Corey Allen scored 10.
Appalachian State also got 17 points from Adrian Delph, 13 from Michael Almonacy and 12 from Donovan Gregory.
Georgia State shot the ball well in the first half (56%), but made only 1 of 6 of its 3-pointers, that from Moore. But the perimeter game kept Appalachian State in the game, as the Mountaineers made 8 of 15 in the first half, including one from Almonacy with one second remaining that provided a 37-35 halftime lead.
Georgia State was the superior defensive team in the first half. The Panthers pressured App State and forced the Mountaineers to work deep into the shot clock. Georgia State outrebounded Appalachian State 19-8 in the first half.
