"A tough ball game, March Madness as they say and I thought it was a really, really hard fought ball game for both teams," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "I thought coming down the stretch we were really playing well and I thought we just didn't finish the game as we should have and that's basketball."
 
"We were in control of the game and didn't make free throws, we didn't get into our offense like we wanted to the last few possessions and Southern went down and made shots.  You have to give them credit because they made shots and got defensive stops and that is the way the game went."
 
Jamel Waters had another huge game for the Hornets with a game-high 24 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals.  DeMarcus Robinson scored 14 and Wendell Lewis added 10.
 
The Hornets (19-10) struggled shooting the ball, finishing the game only shooting 30 percent from the field.  They hit four of their 18 three point field goals (22%), but did manage to score 24 points at the free throw line.
 
ASU out rebounded Southern for the third time this season.  They finished with a 46-38 advantage over the taller Jags.  Luther Page came off the bench to grab a game-high 11 points and for the second consecutive tourney game Maurice Strong had double digit rebounds with 10.
 
Southern (18-16) finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field and that includes knocking down six of their 10 three point field goals.  They hit 16 of their 25 free throws including the final two with less than three seconds on the clock.
 
Adrian Rodgers scored 15 to lead the Jags and Tre Lynch came off the bench to score 14.  Trelun Banks also hit double digits with 12 points.
 
ASU forced 15 turnovers and scored 18 points off those turnovers and also had nine blocked shots led by Brandon Graham who had a game-high three.
 
Southern led 35-32 at halftime largely based on hitting all five of their three point field goals, including a two minute stretch where they hit four consecutive to build a 24-12 lead.
 
From there the Hornets were able to chip into the lead and a basket by Maurice Strong at the horn cut the Jags lead to 35-32.  Waters scored 12 in the first half and Robinson had eight.
 
ASU only shot 31 percent from the field, but stayed in the game knocking down 11 of their 14 free throws.  Defensively they held the Jags to 36 percent shooting even though they were perfect on their three point shots.
 
Rodgers had nine points on three threes and Banks had eight.