MONTGOMERY—The Alabama State University men's basketball team has been back on the hardwood after taking a few days off for the Christmas Holidays.
 
The men have been preparing to host Reinhardt University on Thursday, Dec. 29 as part of a double-header with the women's game.  The men are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. following the women's 3 p.m. tip.
 
The Hornets have worked hard on improving their defense as the opposition has been able to score 70 or more points in four of the past five games and the Hornets won only one of those contests.
 
“From our previous games our defense has to get better for us to have opportunities to win ball games, so we have been concentrating a lot on our defense, boxing out and keeping players in front of us,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “We have to make sure we are giving 110 percent on that side of the ball.”
 
This will be the first meeting between the Hornets and Reinhardt as the Eagles enter the game with a 7-7 overall record.  They average 74 points per game and are led by senior guard David Lawson who averages 17.9 points per game.  Other double digit scorers for Reinhardt are Ishmael John (12.0), Jerome Carmichael (11.8) and Tyler Blackwell (11.1).
 
“We wanted to schedule Reinhardt because they will present some problems for us,” Jackson said.  “They are very quick and can get into the lane.  In our league teams will press a lot and Reinhardt will press the entire game and I am sure they will do that in our game.  We need a game like this going into the conference because it will give us something that we are going to have to work really hard on and that is breaking the press and being able to handle the ball in traffic and with a lot of pressure on us.  It is a great test for us.”
 
ASU is also looking for more offense as the team enters the game only averaging 54.6 points per game and is only shooting 36 percent from the field and 30 percent from behind the three point line.
 
Kenderek Washington has been ASU's most consistent scorer averaging 14.5 points per outing.  He has scored in double-digits in 10 of the 11 games.  Tramaine Butler is averaging 11.6 points and Ivory White is averaging 8.6 points per game.
 
“We have to make good decisions with the basketball,” Jackson added.  “As a coach you try to put them in position where they can score through a good offense or through a good set of plays.  I think we have those, but we just have to play with more confidence and get to our second and third option in our offense.  Everyone is scouting now and they will know your primary option and what you are looking for off the initial play.  So we have to get to our second and third options and be able to stick with our offense and not get out of it when the first option breaks down.”
 
The game could be a big one for Coach Lewis Jackson as his next win will give him his 100^th career win as the Hornets head coach.  With a win, he can become the fifth coach at ASU to win 100 games.
 
He is fifth in all-time wins at ASU trailing only C.J. Dunn (303), James Oliver (294), Rob Spivery (128) and Bernard Boozer (102).