"Tough loss here at home, first home loss, it came against our in-state rival and it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "A&M came in and out hustled us, out worked us and they just out played us.  They out manned us, they out jumped us and this is something we have been trying to avoid for the last two or three weeks in our ball games.  Coming out with a slow start and not giving a great effort and they were ready to play."
 
"They came in with a lot of confidence and played like they didn't have anything to lose and they were going to come down here and take one and that is what they did.  They took it to us at every position.  We had one or two guys out there competing but we didn't have enough guys competing in order to give us an opportunity to win."
 
Waters scored his 29 points on nine-of-18 shooting, including knocking down four of his eight three point field goals and seven of nine at the free throw line.
 
DeMarcus Robinson was the only other Hornet to reach double digits scoring 10 points.  Maurice Strong had eight points and tied for game-high honors in rebounds with 11.
 
ASU (14-7/10-2 SWAC) only shot 41 percent from the field and hit seven of their 19 three point field goals for 37 percent, and shot 70 percent (16-23) from the free throw line.
 
The SWAC's leading scorer Ladarius Tabb led four Bulldogs in double figures with 24 points.  Nicholas West scored 17, Rakiya Battle had 12 and Justin Colvin came off the bench to score 11.
 
The Bulldogs (7-15/6-6 SWAC) shot 46 percent from the field and were able to knock down six of its 19 three point field goals for 32 percent.  They got to the free throw line 34 times knocking down 22 (65%).
 
"We continue to talk about that (getting every team's best shot).  Every night it's going to get harder and harder and you are going to get team's best effort every single night and that's what happened tonight," Jackson said.  "It was enough that it was our rivalry game, but you have to come out and play and perform and do the things that is going to allow us to be successful and tonight we didn't do that."

"We got down and made a run to get back in the ball game, but they continued to make shots, we couldn't get stops and it's hard when you count on one or two guys to carry the load night in and night out.  It makes it difficult for us, especially at the point guard position and we have to get our other guys to step up and play better."
 
The first half was a half of runs as AAMU came out and shot 73 percent from the field in building a 19-7 lead in the first seven minutes of the game.  The Hornets then made a 22-6 run of their own to take a 29-25 lead with seven minutes left in the half.  AAMU again finished the half on a 14-6 run to lead 39-35 at half.
 
Waters scored 18 points for the Hornets and Robinson added seven as ASU shot 44 percent from the field.
 
Tabb had 13 points for AAMU as the Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field.  ASU out rebounded the Bulldogs 19-14 with Strong's five the first half high.
 
The Hornets now play four of their last six games on the road beginning with Saturday Feb. 21 at Alcorn State.  The tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.