MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Tony Armstrong scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Alabama State University men's basketball team fell to Texas Southern, 86-73, in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game on Saturday at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
 
"I thought for 16 minutes of that first half we shot the ball good," Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson said. "We didn't give up a lot of transition baskets. We came out in the second half a little lethargic and they were able to push the lead to 10 or 11. We made runs down to five or seven, but we made mistakes like missing a shot and then putting a guy at the free-throw line. They made 24 free throws off 30 attempts and you just can't beat good teams like that. They are going to let you beat yourself by taking bad shots or making mistakes."
 
Armstrong finished with 24 points, on 8-of-13 shooting and 8-of-10 from the foul line. He added seven rebounds and one steal to pace the Hornet offense. Rodney Simeon produced 14 of his 16 points in the second half and also finished with three rebounds, one assist and one block. Torloft Thomas chipped in with 12 points, five boards, two assists and one steal as Alabama State shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) and 72.7 percent (24-of-33) from the foul line.
 
The Tigers (17-11 overall, 13-2 SWAC) jumped out to a 15-11 advantage after a layup by Demontrae Jefferson with 15:19 left in the opening half. The Hornets (8-19, 6-9) used a 7-2 run over the next four minutes, capped by an Armstrong jumper to give Alabama State an 18-17 lead with 12:09 remaining.
 
Armstrong's bucket and foul shot with 10:26 left gave Alabama State a 21-19 lead, but Texas Southern outscored the Hornets, 22-16, over the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 42-37 advantage into the break.
 
Texas Southern began the second half on a 12-4 run, capped by a Kevin Scott 3-pointer with 17:25 remaining. Alabama State answered with an 8-2 run, capped by two foul shots by Thomas to cut the deficit to 56-49.
 
Back came the Tigers and pushed the lead to 64-52 after a Jalan McCloud layup with 9:42 left. Alabama State  had one more final push as the Hornets trimmed the margin 66-58 with 7:16 remaining, but that would be as close as ASU would get.
 
McCloud led Texas Southern with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Zach Lofton finished with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Scott nearly added a double-double as he recorded 10 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. The Tigers shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the floor and was 24-of-30 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
Alabama State concludes its home portion of the schedule with Senior Night on Monday night against Prairie View A&M. Tip-off from the Dunn-Oliver Acadome is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
For more information on Alabama State University men's basketball, follow us on Twitter @BamaStateMBB and like us on Facebook.