During a timeout with 14.6 seconds remaining, Arkansas State men’s basketball guard Freddy Hicks told Head Coach Bryan Hodgson he wanted the ball in the final seconds.
And get the ball he did, sinking a game-winning floater at the buzzer to lift the fourth-seeded Red Wolves (18-15) past No. 1 seed Appalachian State 67-65 on Sunday night inside the Pensacola Bay Center and punch their ticket to the Sun Belt Conference championship game.
“I’m just extremely proud of our guys,” Hodgson said. “We just beat a really, really good team. To find a way to beat them, and we did it rebounding and defensively. We’ve put together two of our best defensive performances of the year back-to-back, and that’s what it takes in the conference tournament. I’m thrilled with our guys’ effort. Everyone was connected from start to finish. They took the lead, and in the past, that would lead to compounding mistakes, but not anymore with this group. That’s why we were able to gut this one out.”
Hicks scored 19 points in the win over the Mountaineers (27-6), with his most impactful two points sending A-State to its first conference final since 2007. Sunday’s win was the Red Wolves’ first victory over a No. 1 seed in a conference tournament.
Caleb Fields led all players in scoring with 23 points and went 8-for-9 at the foul line. The senior maestro accompanied timely buckets with six assists on the night and helped pave the way for a 44.1-percent clip from the field.
A-State won the battle on the glass 36-27, the eighth team this season to top the Mountaineers in rebounding. The Red Wolves’ plus-nine rebound margin is the second-largest margin of any opponent for App State this season.
The Red Wolves overcame a slow 1-for-4 start to hit their next six shots to take a 17-12 lead. They shot 57.7 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, while Fields and Hicks combined for 23 points in the period. A-State outscored the lengthy Mountaineers 22-16 in the paint en route to leading 39-29 at the half.
Derrian Ford hit a layup four minutes into the second half to give A-State its largest lead of the night, up 11. The Mountaineers rallied to take a one-point lead on a dunk by Justin Abson, putting the score at 62-61. After Fields moved the Red Wolves back ahead 63-62 with under four minutes left, App State reclaimed a two-point lead on a trey by Myles Tate.
Tate was one of three Mountaineers in double figures, led by Terence Harcum’s 15 points. Abson added 10 points.
NEXT UP
A-State takes the court for its first Sun Belt Conference title since 1999 on Monday night, taking on second-seeded James Madison in the tournament final. Tip-off against the Dukes (30-3) is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN with Mike Morgan and Mark Wise on the call.
