Final Boxscore

BOSSIER CITY, La. – The No.3-seed Alabama State men's basketball team rallied in the second half but Terrance Calvin's jumper with two seconds remaining gave No.2-seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff a 46-44 victory Friday afternoon in semifinal action of the 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament at the CenturyTel Center.

With the win, UAPB (16-15) advances to Saturday's championship game against the winner of Friday night's Texas Southern-Grambling matchup, while ASU completes the season at 16-15. The Lions and Hornets met in last year's semifinal round with Bama State earning a 63-55 win en route to the tournament title.

Senior Tramayne Moorer paced the Hornets in his final game finishing with 23 points and nine rebounds. He sparked the ASU comeback with 16 points in the second half including five of the team's final six points. Fellow senior Byron Walker added seven points in his finale.

Calvin led the Lions with a double-double performance that included 12 points and 12 rebounds. Savalance Townsend chipped in 11 points for UAPB.

“This was a hard-fought game and a tough loss,” said ASU head coach Lewis Jackson, who is now 5-4 all-time at the SWAC Tournament. “Both teams battled and it came down to their guy making a play at the end of the game. I was proud of how our guys never quit and gave us a chance to win the game. That's all you really want to do is have a chance. This was a good season for our program and I couldn't have been any prouder of these guys.”

In a battle between two of the SWAC's best defensive squads, points were hard to come by in the opening half as both teams struggled through offensive scoring droughts. Each team connected on just six field goals in the first half. ASU finished the period shooting just 24 percent (6-of-25) including an 0-9 performance from beyond the three-point line while UAPB was only slightly better at 27 percent (6-of-22).

The Hornets never led in the first half as the Lions jumped out to a quick 7-3 advantage and led by as many as six points a couple of times in the stanza. Arkansas-Pine Bluff held a 22-17 lead at the break.

Moorer kept ASU in the game early, scoring seven of the team's first 10 points while also finishing the half with six rebounds.

Bama State scored on its first two possessions of the second half to pull within one just over a minute into play. The game stayed close over the next several minutes and ASU earned its first lead of the contest, 31-28, when Sekani Milligen dropped in a three-pointer at the 12:28 mark.

ASU maintained a lead for the next six minutes of play until a pair of free throws by Townsend with 6:19 left put the Lions back in front by one, 39-38. UAPB tacked on three more free throws to take a four-point advantage, but back-to-back lay-ups by Moorer tied the score again with three minutes left.

Townsend scored at the 2:06 mark giving Pine Bluff a two-point lead before a free throw by Moorer and Tramaine Butler knotted the score at 44 with 1:38 remaining. After a missed UAPB layup, ASU got the rebound and called a timeout with 29 seconds on the clock. Allen Smith stole the inbounds pass for the Lions setting up the game-winning possession.

Alabama State finished the game shooting 33 percent (15-45) and made just 1-of-15 three-point tries. The Hornets forced 17 turnovers but were out-rebounded 41-29.

The 2009-10 season marked the third consecutive winning season for the Hornets, who return 11 of the 14 players on their SWAC Tournament roster for next season.