MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Alabama State's three game road swing will come to an end Saturday, Jan. 12 at Alabama A&M. The game is scheduled to tip off a 5 p.m. at the T.M. Elmore Gymnasium.
The Hornets come into the game with a 5-12 overall record and are presently third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) with a 3-1 record. ASU enters the game winners of four of their past five games and their road win at Mississippi Valley State Tuesday was the team's first road win of the season.
AAMU enters the game 6-9 overall and 2-2 in conference action, one game behind ASU in the conference standings. The Bulldogs have been impressive at times this season and none more than their come-from-behind 59-57 win over Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference earlier in the season.
“With it being A&M and State it is going to be a packed house,” Head Coach
Lewis Jackson said. “We will have to control their guards. They do a lot of things through their guards and we will have to try and control them."
The game can be heard live on WVAS Radio and live stats can be followed on Game Day Central at
www.bamastatesports.com.
Demarquelle Tabb is one of the top players in the conference and he leads AAMU in scoring (12.6) and rebounding (9.2). Jeremy Crutcher is averaging 12.1 points per game as the Bulldogs are fourth in the conference in scoring averaging a little over 64 points per game.
Joshua Freelove continues to be the leading scorer for ASU at 12.6 points per game. He scored a team-high 16 at Mississippi Valley.
Phillip Crawford has been playing through injuries ever since his return to the lineup 11 games ago. The coaching staff actually held him out of the game against Grambling letting him rest. He had a big game against MVSU scoring a season-high 15 points for the Hornets and is averaging over eight points per game. The coaching staff is looking for ways to get him more shots as he is shooting over 52 percent from the field.
Shawtez Patterson has been an excellent outside shooter throughout his career, but has been in a shooting slump the past few weeks. He hopes to have gotten out of that slump with his 13 point performance at MVSU. He hit five of his eight field goals, including two three-pointers.
Last season the Hornets were able to win two close games over their rivals, a heated 53-50 win in Montgomery and a 57-47 win at AAMU.
“It is going to be a dogfight and we know that,” Jackson said. “Every year it is going to be a dogfight and we have to go in and play solid defense in order to have a chance to come back to Montgomery with a win.”
