Box Score MONTGOMERY—Alabama State University (10-16/7-7 SWAC) went 5:28 seconds without scoring late in the game and allowed Southern University (15-13/11-4 SWAC) to sneak out of Montgomery with a 55-53 Southwestern Athletic Conference men's basketball game.
 
Stephawn Brown's basket with 5:40 left in the game gave ASU a 46-41 lead, but that would be the last basket ASU would score until Tramaine Butler's basket with 12.9 seconds left in the game.  By that time Southern had scored 11 consecutive points to go up 52-46.  From there Southern hit three of four free throws to keep the Hornets at arm's length in pulling out the close win.
 
Derick Beltran was the main thorn in the ASU's side as he scored a game-high 22 points.  Beltran's jumper with 1:40 left gave Southern a 48-46 lead, which was their first lead since 5:52 of the first half when they led 19-18.  Quinton Doggett scored 18 points as the two players combined to score 40 of the team's 55 points.  No other player had more than five points.
 
One positive for the Hornets was the scoring of Butler who finished with 18 points, which put him over 1,000 points for his career.  He became the 27^th player in ASU history to reach the milestone.
 
No other player reached double-digits as Ryan Watts came off the bench to score eight and Philip Crawford had seven.  Crawford was in foul trouble most of the night and only played 24 minutes before fouling out.
 
Southern shot 40 percent (18-45) from the field while ASU only shot 36 percent (19-53).  The Hornets out rebounded Southern 40-30, with 15 of their rebounds being offensive boards.  Once again the Hornets trouble from the foul line turned out to be a detriment to ASU as they only hit nine of their 17 attempts (53 percent).  Meanwhile, Southern connected on 16 of their 24 attempts (67 percent).
 
“We were in position to make things happen tonight and we did not do that,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “We were just not disciplined enough down the stretch on defense and offense.  What was disappointing was that we had seniors making some mistakes down the stretch and they should have the experience to play better.”
 
The Hornets held a 29-23 lead at halftime led by Butler's seven points.  He was in foul trouble and only played five minutes in the first half.  The Hornets held a 21-13 edge in rebounding, but nine first-half turnovers hurt the Hornets chances of building a larger lead.
 
Beltran and Doggett combined to score 21 of the Jags 23 points in the first half with Beltran's 11 leading the way.
 
ASU will hit the road for the final time during the regular season when they make their Texas road trip.  The Hornets will play at Texas Southern on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m.  They will end the road trip at Prairie View on Monday, Feb. 27 with a 7:30 p.m. tip off.  Saturday's game at Texas Southern is scheduled to be carried on SWAC TV.