HOUSTON, Texas – The Alabama State University men's basketball team concluded its season on Tuesday night as the eighth-seeded Hornets fell to top-seeded Texas Southern, 87-72, in the 2017 Toyota Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) men's basketball quarterfinal game at the H&PE Arena.
 
"It was a tough ballgame against a very good team," Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson said. "I thought it the first half we played our game and attacked the rim. I thought we did a good job until the last one or two minutes of the first half. We gave up a three-pointer right before the half to push the lead to seven. Then we come out to start the second half a little flat and we didn't get into our offense. We were in position to cut it (the lead) but just couldn't keep them out of the lane. They do a good job of getting to the free-throw line and it was a tough road loss for us against a very good team."


Torloft Thomas paced the Alabama State offense with 17 points, including eight points from the foul line, a game-high six assists, three rebounds, one block and one steal. Corvon Butler added 12 points and seven boards, while Amir Warnock chipped in with 10 points, eight rebounds and one steal as the Hornets shot 36.5 percent (27-of-74) from the floor and finished the night shooting 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the foul line.
 
After a back-and-forth opening 13 minutes of action where neither team had a lead larger than four, Texas Southern used a 7-2 run over nearly three minutes, capped by Zach Lofton layup and free throw to give the Tigers a 25-21 advantage with 4:58 left.
 
Texas Southern pushed the lead to 31-25, but Alabama State responded with six straight points (Thomas and Armstrong) to tie the game at 31 with 1:22 remaining. However, the Tigers closed the half strong with buckets by Demontrae Jefferson and Kevin Scott to take a 38-31 lead into the break.
 
The Hornets (8-23) went the first four minutes without a field goal to start the second half, which allowed the Tigers to grab a 50-34 advantage after a free throw by Dulani Robinson with 14:40 left.
 
Alabama State responded with a 16-8 run over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to 58-50 after a layup by Mikel Tyson with 9:33 remaining.
 
Texas Southern pushed the advantage to 69-52, but back came Alabama State and cut the margin got 73-61 after a 3-pointer by Terrance LaFlore with 4:09 left.
 
However the Hornets couldn't get any closer down than 12 points down the stretch in the loss.
 
Jefferson led four Texas Southern players in double figures with 28 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Marvin Jones registered 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Lofton, the 2017 SWAC Player of the Year, chipped in with 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Scott finished with 10 points and seven boards as the Tigers shot 25-of-54 (46.3 percent) from the floor and 31-of-38 (81.6 percent).
 
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