Final Boxscore
HOUSTON –The Alabama State University men's basketball team got a balanced performance with four players in double digits to post an impressive 69-61 road victory over Texas Southern Saturday night at H&PE Arena.
The Hornets (13-13, 10-5 SWAC) used a scoring surge early in the second half to extend their win streak to four games overall. The win also marked the ninth straight for ASU over Texas Southern (12-15, 8-7 SWAC) and was the team's fifth road victory this season.
Tramaine Butler scored 16 points, including 10 in the first half, to pace Alabama State.
Menji Mundadi poured in 13 points in the second half to finish with 15.
Tramayne Moorer added 14 points to go along with eight rebounds and
Byron Walker chipped in 12.
The Tigers had just two players reach double digits with Deandre Hall finishing with 17 followed by 13 from Junior Treasure.
“This was an important road win for us,” said ASU head coach
Lewis Jackson, who improved to 10-1 all-time against TSU. “We played with good effort especially on the defensive end and did not let them get into their uptempo style of play. I thought we got contributions from a variety of players and that was a big key to us earning the win.”
The first half was a nip-and-tuck battle with neither team holding larger than a four-point advantage and featured five ties and eight lead changes.
The Tigers scored the first four points of the game as ASU turned the ball over on its first four possessions. The Hornets eventually settled down and answered with a 9-2 run to earn their first lead of the contest. A quartet of players scored for Bama State during the rally.
ASU maintained a lead for most of the rest of the half until a late 6-2 spurt by TSU gave the Tigers a one-point edge with 15 seconds remaining. Moorer collected a lob pass and converted a layup with two ticks left putting the Hornets back in front by a point, 33-32, at the break.
The score stayed tight early in the second half before Alabama State began to assert itself on both ends of the floor midway through the period. With the score knotted at 38 with 16:59 to play, the Hornets rattled off 11 straight points and held the Tigers scoreless for nearly six minutes.
During the surge, Mundadi connected on back-to-back treys after missing his first six attempts from long distance.
TSU responded with the next six points to close to within five points, but would get no closer as ASU fended off all the Tigers remaining comeback attempts over the final 10 minutes. The Hornets made 15 of 21 free throw attempts in the second half including a stretch of eight straight in the closing minutes to secure the win.
The Hornets play their final regular season road game Monday against Prairie View A&M at 7:30 p.m.
