LORMAN, Miss. – The Alabama State University men's basketball team climbed all the way back from a 19-point second half deficit but couldn't hold as the Hornets dropped a heartbreaking 75-67 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) decision to Alcorn State at the Davey L. Whitney Complex on Saturday.
 
"It was a tough loss tonight," Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson said. "For whatever reason, we didn't come out to play in the first half. They took advantage of us not being ready. We knew it would be a tough ballgame. They are fighting for a shot at the conference title. We knew we had an opportunity to knock them off and yet we still didn't come out ready to play and were down 18-2 in the first half. In the second half we fight back and take the lead. We had turnovers late where we had five possessions and four turnovers. You just can't win against good teams when you make those types of mistakes down the stretch."
 
Rodney Simeon led four Alabama State players in double figures with 15 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Torloft Thomas finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, while Terrance LeFlore added 14 points and four rebounds. Mikel Tyson tallied 10 points and seven rebounds as the Hornets shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field and 64 percent (16-of-25) from the free-throw line.
 
Alcorn State (14-11 overall, 11-3 SWAC) jumped out to an 18-2 lead after a 3-pointer by Reginal Johnson to begin the game. Alabama State (8-17, 6-7) cut the deficit to 22-13 after a LeFlore layup with 7:46 remaining.
 
Free throws by LeFlore and Glenn Hollaway trimmed the margin to 25-17 with 6:20 left in the opening half, but the Braves closed out the first half on a 16-9 run to take a 41-26 advantage into the break.
 
Alcorn State opened the second half with four straight points as Marquis Vance scored on layup with 18:42 remaining to give the Braves a 45-26 advantage. Alabama State rallied and clawed back into the game as the Hornets used a 28-8 run over the next eight minutes as LeFlore scored on a layup to give the Hornets their first lead of the night at 54-53 with 10:39 left.
 
Alabama State, which saw its three-game win streak snapped, took its final lead of the night after a Simeon 3-pointer with 8:29 left to give the Hornets a 60-59 advantage. But Alcorn State proved to be too much down the stretch as the Braves closed out the game on a 16-7 run to earn their ninth straight win.
 
Vance led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting and nine rebounds. Johnson registered 11 points and Dulin recorded 11 as the Braves shot 52 percent (26-of-50) and 68.2 percent (15-of-22) from the charity stripe.
 
Alabama State returns to action at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb 20 in Baton Rouge, La., against Southern. In the previous matchup this season, the Hornets got 17 points from Tony Armstrong in a 79-65 victory over the Jaguars on Jan. 23.
 
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