Dec. 20, 2007

Final Stats

Montgomery, Ala. - For seven games, Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson sat on the sidelines and urged his new center to assert himself in the paint. After not getting the production he sought, Jackson removed Chief Kickingstallionsims from the Hornets' starting lineup.

Kickingstallionsims answered his coach's move with a career high 17-point-six rebound performance in ASU's 70-52 win over Auburn Montgomery (AUM) Thursday night.

"Chief came out and exerted himself tonight, especially on the offensive end," Jackson said. "We were struggling to score when he came in and really gave us a boost."

Kickingstallionsims scored all of his points in the first half, on 8-8 shooting. He entered the game with the ASU trailing 8-2, and immediately went to work scoring 11 points in less than three minutes to push the Hornets to a 15-10 lead.

"We came into the game wanting to establish ourselves inside," Jackson said. "And Chief did a good job of coming in and putting the ball in the basket."

At the half, ASU led 31-25.

The Hornets pulled away in the second half by holding AUM to 26% shooting. Though Chief cooled off, Brandon Gordon was strong - scoring 9 points to help put the game away.

"It's always good to get a win, especially against a team as strong as AUM," Jackson said. "Still, we have to get better defensively and rebounding.

"Those are two of the areas where we are still expecting more from Chief."

Andrew Hayles had 11 points for ASU. Brandon Brooks, who also came off the bench for the first time this season, answered with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

ASU (4-4) takes the court on December 28 as they travel to take on Tulane.