The men's basketball team at Alabama State defeated Auburn Montgomery Saturday afternoon, but will not have a lot of time to think about it as they are back in action Monday, Dec. 30 when they host Thomas University at 7 p.m.

"With the quick turnaround between games, there is just not a lot of time to get a lot of work in," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. "We looked at game film and then we talked about the things we need to correct, but you also have to work on what Thomas is going to do so it makes for a very quick turnaround."

"It is a good practice weekend for us because this is the way the conference games are scheduled where we play on Saturday and have one day to get ready for Monday's game."

ASU (5-5) will look to their top scorers Jamel Waters (14.9) and DeMarcus Robinson (13.2) to lead the Hornets offense. Waters has only scored 21 points over the past two games, but he has set career-highs in assists with 10 against both Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Auburn Montgomery.

Brandon Graham has his scoring average up to eight points per game after his double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds against Auburn Montgomery. Both numbers were Graham's career-highs.

Maurice Strong has been a solid player for the Hornets all season and after scoring nine points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the win over the Warhawks he has pushed his scoring average up to 7.3 points per game and has taken over the team lead in rebounding averaging 5.6 per game.

The Nighthawks of Thomas come into the game sporting an 8-4 record. Thomas discontinued their basketball program following the 1999-2000 season, but re-started the program this season.

Thomas averages 74.9 points per game and has three players averaging in double figures led by Justyn Watkins' 22.3 average. Max Grace averages 14.7 and Trey Gosier is scoring 11.5 per game.

Andrea Robinson paces the Nighthawks rebounding efforts averaging 6.8 per game, but Watkins is not that far behind grabbing 6.6 boards per outing.

Thomas is shooting .435 from the field, but does a lot of damage at the free throw line. They have already attempted 270 free throws during their first 12 games and have 67 percent of those.

"We don't know a lot about Thomas, but we have seen some film on them," Jackson said. "They get up and down the court and look to push the ball at all times. They have good size and again, we will have to find their scorers and play solid defense. It is another good test for our young team as we get ready for conference action."

Live in-game stats will be updated and can be watched at bamastatesports.com.