NEW ORLEANS—
Bobby Brown hit two three point shots in the final 18 seconds to send the game into overtime, but it was not enough as Alabama State (1-11) fell to Texas Pan American (5-8) 76-70.
ASU trailed 58-52 with 32 seconds left in the game. Joshua Freelove hit a basket with24 seconds left and then stole the inbounds pass and got the ball to Brown who canned a three with 18 seconds left and the lead was down to 58-57.
Brandon Provost was fouled and hit two free throws for UTPA to push the lead back out to 60-57.
Jamel Waters was fouled and hit both free throws for ASU to cut the lead to one at 60-59 with 10 seconds to go. Provost was immediately fouled again and hit two more free throws to give UTPA a 62-59 lead.
That set up the final nine seconds with Waters getting the ball down the court and finding Brown on the left wing who hit another three to send the game into overtime even at 62.
UTPA made it difficult in the overtime period hitting all five field goals and three of four free throws to outscore the Hornets 14-8. Provost scored six of the 14 points on a three and three free throws.
The Hornets had a tough time defending the Broncos three point shots as UTPA hit 11 of their 19 three point attempts with Aaron Urbanus hitting six and Provost canning four.
ASU shot 37 percent from the field and out rebounded UTPA 43-38. 20 of those were offensive rebounds but the cold shooting Hornets could only score 12 second chance points. The Hornets shot 66 percent from the free throw line.
Joshua Freelove led ASU with 15 points and Brown had 11.
Jamel Waters had 10 and a game-high seven assists.
Stephawn Brown had a game-high 13 rebounds.
UTPA finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and 58 percent from the three point line. They struggled in the first half shooting free throws, but hit 11 out of 12 in the second half and overtime on their way to shooting 63 percent.
Provost had a game-high 25 points and Urbanus added 22. Ruben Cabrera came off the bench to score 11 for the Broncos.
“We have got to learn how to win,” Head Coach
Lewis Jackson said. “The guys really played hard and really played well together at times as we had 17 assists. In fact we out-numbered them in most categories except for the three point line.”
“Down the stretch we had a lead and we did not do the things we needed to do to win the game. We would have two guys guarding someone and they would find the open guy and they hit those big shots.”
ASU trailed 25-21 at halftime as the Broncos were able to hit five of their eight three point attempts with three of those coming from Urbanos. UTPA shot 33 percent from the field and the Broncos could have had an even larger lead but they hit only four of their 12 free throws.
The Hornets got nine points from Freelove, but as a team they only shot 26 percent from the field. ASU did out rebound UTPA 25-21 with 10 of those offensive rebounds, but could not take advantage of the second chance shots.
“In all I thought it was a great effort by the guys and if we keep playing like this and bring this type of energy night in and night out and correct a couple of things, I think we have a chance to be all right once we get into conference play,” Jackson said. “Now we will break for a few days for the holidays and come back for one game before we start our conference play and that is going to be critical.”
ASU will take the next few days off for Christmas, but will be back in Montgomery on Dec. 26 to begin preparations for Auburn University Montgomery. The two Montgomery schools will play on Saturday, Dec. 29 in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome at 4 p.m.
