Final Boxscore
ITTA BENA, Miss. -- The Mississippi Valley State men's basketball team placed five players in double figures en route to capturing a regular season sweep of Alabama State with an 82-71 victory Saturday night at the R.W. Harrison Complex.
The loss snapped a two-game road win streak for the Hornets, who slip to 9-12 overall and 6-4 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Delta Devils improved to 6-17 on the season and 5-5 in league play with their second consecutive win.
Menji Mundadi scored 28 points to lead ASU while
Chris Duncan scored a career-best 18 including 15 in the second half. Duncan also led the Hornets with six rebounds.
Shannon Behling finished with 19 points to pace MVSU followed by 15 from Cor-J Cox and 13 for Julius Cheeks.
The two squads battled back-and-forth over an opening 10 minutes of play that featured three ties and three lead changes. The Hornets got solid play from a variety of players as seven different ASU players each scored a basket to start the contest.
Mississippi Valley then capitalized on a four minute scoring drought by Alabama State to build a 24-15 lead with 6:50 left in the first half. The Hornets missed eight straight shots during the slide while MVSU posted a 9-0 run.
Mundadi connected on a pair of three-pointers and added another basket in leading an ASU rally that trimmed the deficit to just four points, 30-26, with 3:15 left. Unfortunately, Bama State did not score again in the period allowing Valley to take a 35-26 lead into the halftime break.
The offensive woes continued for ASU to start the second half as the Hornets missed their first three shots and committed five turnovers. Bama State did not score until a free throw by
Tramayne Moorer at the 15:37 mark and the first basket came on a layup by Mundadi with 15:12 remaining.
The Delta Devils opened the half with six straight points and slowly built their lead to 18 points, 54-36, with 11:07 left to play. ASU refused to go away and consistently chipped away at the deficit. An 11-3 run allowed the Hornets to close the gap to eight points at the 4:36 mark. Duncan then scored on three consecutive possessions as ASU pulled within seven, 66-59, with 3:13 remaining.
The Hornets could not get any closer though as MVSU connected on 14 of 16 free throw attempts in the final two minutes to maintain a lead.
Alabama State next concludes its weekend SWAC road swing Monday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m.
