Box Score TROY, Ala. – A pair of free throws from Ronshad Shabazz with three seconds remaining sealed a victory for Appalachian State University men's basketball who bounced back in a big way with a hard-fought win on the road at Troy, 75-71, on Thursday evening.

The Mountaineers (6-14, 4-5 Sun Belt) were led offensively by the Sun Belt's leading scorer, Frank Eaves, who finished with 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. The senior also knocked down one triple in the effort.

Also coming up big was the play of Jacob Lawson. Off the bench, Lawson netted a season-high 13 points and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and grabbed five rebounds. The Sun Belt's leading blocker also swatted three more shots on the night.

Griffin Kinney posted a career night with 10 boards and narrowly missed a double-double as the sophomore finished with nine points. Matt O'Boyle was perfect from downtown with three three-pointers and also finished with nine points. App State's bench outscored Troy's by a 38-6 tally.

App State grabbed the lead early and would trail just twice in the opening half. Eaves' lone three of the game got things going for the Mountaineers, who shot 48.2 percent (25-for-52) from the floor for the game. O'Boyle came alive with his two threes less than three minutes apart, while the latter gave the Apps a 16-11 lead with 10:46 left in the half.

Jake Babic and Bennett Holley chipped in threes of their own. Holley's first triple would give App State a 22-17 advantage at the 7:52 mark.  O'Boyle's third triple of the half would put App State up 31-27 and the Mountaineers would end up taking a 35-31 lead into the break.

Troy would begin to grab momentum out of the lockerroom as the Trojans would engineer a 13-4 run immediately following halftime to take a 44-39 lead. App State wouldn't give in and fought back with a bucket from Michael Obacha and Lawson to trail 45-44.

The Black and Gold would grab a 49-48 lead on a Babic three, but would relinquish it 40 seconds later. A 7-2 Mountaineer run that included a Holley three and was capped by an Eaves jumper would have App State in the lead 56-54 with 9:05 to play in regulation. Troy would tie the game at 56-56, but four-straight points from Eaves created some breathing room for Appalachian.

Lawson and Eaves would then combined for six points and the Mountaineers found themselves up 66-58 and forced a Troy timeout. Over the next 3:33, the Trojans would close the gap and a tip in from Jordan Varnado would tie the game at 68-68 with momentum beginning to swing in favor of Troy.

With Trojan fans getting loud, Eaves drove the length of the floor and scored a bucket and drew a foul. He capped the old fashioned three-point play and put App State back in front 71-68. With just 4.4 seconds left, both Eaves and Shabazz would hit four free throws to ice the game and hand Troy its 15th loss this season and ninth in Sun Belt play.

The Mountaineers will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 30 when they travel to Mobile, Ala. for a league contest with the South Alabama Jaguars. Game time is slated for 8:05 p.m.