PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Alabama State men could not overcome a sluggish start and the hot-shooting of Prairie View A&M University en route to falling 72-52 at the William J. Nicks Building Monday night.
 
"This is a very tough loss," Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson said. "I thought there would be somewhat of a letdown because of the emotional loss over the weekend, I thought the guys may come out a little sluggish. But I had no idea we would come out the way we did not tonight with no energy or enthusiasm about playing."
 
Rodney Simeon led Alabama State (5-16, 3-6 SWAC) with 17 points, while Terrance LeFlore added 13 and Reginald Gee 11 in the loss. Tony Armstrong finished with seven points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets.
 
The Hornets fell behind early, 10-2, and it took most of the half to battle back for the Hornets. After trailing by 10 with 2:28 to play in the half, Alabama State reeled off five consecutive points to trim the deficit to 30-25 with 1:31 to play in the first half. After a basket by Prairie View A&M, Gee hit a pair of free throws to trim the lead to 32-27 at the intermission.
 
It didn't take long in the second half for the Hornets to grab their first lead of the contest as LeFlore and Gee hit back-to-back three pointers to give Alabama State a 33-32 lead. But that is where Prairie View A&M took over, going on a 14-1 run over the next five minutes to take a 46-34 lead with 14:27 remaining in the game.
 
"I think on our first seven possessions we had five turnovers," Jackson said. "We just kind of hung around and went in down five at halftime. We came out in the second half and went up four and it just kind of went south from there."
 
Alabama State finished the night shooting 32.7 (16-of-49) percent from the floor and 30.8 (8-of-26) percent from beyond the arc. They also finished the night shooting 63.2 (12-of-19) percent from the free throw line.
 
"In this league you have to have good guard play that is going to be consistent," Jackson said. "We are just to up and down in terms of their energy and effort, and just playing smart basketball. We played into their hands and shot a bunch of jump shots, and they attacked us at the rim. Those type of things hurt us. We just have to work on being consistent and keep grinding to get ready for this home stretch."
 
Tevin Bellinger led Prairie View A&M (8-15, 5-4 SWAC) with a game-high 27 points, while Zachary Hamilton added 16 and Shay'rone Jett 10 in the win. They shot 45.6 (26-of-57) percent from the floor and 47.6 (10-of-21) percent from beyond the arc, while shooting 83.3 (10-of-12) percent from the free throw line.
 
Alabama State returns to action next Saturday at home, hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome with tip set for 5:00 pm.
 
For more information on Alabama State University athletics, follow us on Twitter @BamaStateSports and like us on Facebook. For more information on Alabama State University men's basketball, follow us on Twitter @BamaStateMBB.