Jordan Battle had 25 points and seven rebounds for Old Dominion, which dominated much of the day, then survived a harrowing finish Saturday for a 75-73 victory over Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
LJ Thomas and reserve Jared Turner scored nine points each for the Monarchs (6-14, 3-5 Sun Belt), while Zacch Wiggins had eight. Caelum Swanton-Rodger grabbed seven rebounds. Battle, from Norfolk Collegiate, and Thomas had four assists apiece.
Alonzo Dodd had 27 points and nine assists for App State (11-9, 4-4).
ODU went ahead 9-3 and scored the last nine points of the first half to move ahead 36-17. A Battle 3-pointer with 16:49 left gave the Monarchs a 46-26 margin.
But the Mountaineers reeled off 13 consecutive points to pull to 46-39 at the 12:54 mark, making ODU remember a 19-point lead that got away the previous Saturday in a loss at James Madison.
The Monarchs regained momentum to go up 60-45 and were still up 66-55 with two minutes left, but a combination of missed ODU free throws and App State baskets — many by Dodd — made it 72-70 on a Dodd layup with 26 seconds to go. The Holmes Coliseum crowd was roaring.
When ODU’s Drew McKenna missed two free throws at the 24-second mark, ASU had a chance to go ahead, but Jalen Tot missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left. Battle sank two free throws to make it 74-70. After another Mountaineers miss, Wiggins hit 1 of 2 foul shots for a 75-70 score.
But there would be one more adventure. Wiggins fouled Dodd behind the 3-point line with seven-tenths of a second to go. Dodd made all three shots, though it seemed he was trying to miss the third intentionally. So after a timeout, ODU had to get the ball inbounds one more time, and App State intercepted it and launched a hurried, errant miss from near midcourt to end the game.
The Monarchs will return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chartway Arena against Troy.
