DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Peyton Aldridge scored 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting and Davidson saved its biggest run for last to beat Appalachian State 86-74 in Saturday night's season opener.

Trailing 37-33 at halftime, Davidson rallied and the lead traded hands 15 times before Jon Axel Gudmundsson hit a 3 and two free throws to put the Wildcats up 72-68 with 5:04 left. Will Magarity dunked, then Aldridge made a layup and Davidson pulled away on an 8-1 run in the final 2:12.

Aldridge made 4 of 6 3-point tries, Rusty Reigel scored 13 points and made four assists and Gudmundsson had 11 points with five assists. The Wildcats outshot the Mountaineers 48 percent (30 of 63) to 39 percent (23 of 59) from the field and hit 9 of 22 from long distance (41 percent).

Ronshad Shabazz and Jake Babic each scored 11 points for the Mountaineers and Griffin Kinney and Tyrell Johnson each had 10.