Box Score MONTGOMERY—Tramaine Butler and Ivory White had 14 points each to lead Alabama State University (6-10/3-1) to a 62-56 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-15/0-3) in men's conference basketball action.
 
The Hornets held a slim one-point lead at halftime, but came out in the second half scoring eight straight points to open up a nine-point lead (32-23) in the first three minutes.
 
ASU was meticulous in working the offense and went on to build its largest lead at 53-38 with 6:27 left when Philip Crawford scored off an offensive rebound, but UAPB would not go down easy.
 
Following that basket, the Golden Lions went on to outscore ASU 17-6 to cut the lead to 59-55 with 47 seconds left in the game.  The Hornets, who struggled at the free throw line all night, was able to get two at the charity stripe from Jeff Middlebrooks and one from Butler to keep the Hornets just out of reach of the charging Golden Lions.
 
“We kind of walked around in the first half with no purpose at all and just being lackadaisical in our efforts and we had to try and fire them up a little bit at halftime,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “I thought we came out in the second half and played with more aggression, but we are still not playing good basketball.  We had an eight point lead with a minute to go and we are just rushing to the basket trying to score and we allowed them to get back in the ball game.”
 
“We wanted to try and slow them down and not let them get run outs and we tried to get the ball out of Townsend's hands and limit his possessions.”
 
Savalace Townsend, who entered the game leading the conference in scoring, finished with a game-high 23 points and Lazabian Jackson had 11 to lead UAPB.
 
ASU shot 49 percent for the game and that includes a blistering 62 percent (16-26) in the second half.  Philip Crawford joined Butler and White in double digits with 10.  Both Crawford and White completed with double-doubles with 10 rebounds each as ASU out rebounded the taller Golden Lions 37-33.
 
White's three pointer with two seconds left in the first half sent ASU to the locker room with a slim 24-23 lead.  ASU was able to knock down four three's in the opening half while UAPB only hit one, but the Golden Lions out shot ASU 44-37 percent in the half to stay right with the home team.
 
Both teams had 17 rebounds and both teams struggled with turnovers as ASU had 13 and UAPB had 12 in the first half.
 
After playing four games in seven days the Hornets will be able to take a day off before getting back to practice preparing to host Alabama A&M on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 5 p.m.