ITTA BENA, Miss. | Alabama State dropped their fourth consecutive game, falling to Mississippi Valley State 44-31 in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action at Rice-Totten Field on Saturday afternoon.

Alabama State (3-6, 2-5 SWAC) trailed 38-31 with under two minutes in the game when Brandon Gaddy (Virginia Beach, Va.) blocked a field goal and Cameron Rampersaud (Kissimmee, Fla.) scooped it and ran it back for a touchdown before it was called back due to an offsides call. Mississippi Valley State scored on the very next play to put the game away with 1:10 to play.

"I can't question the guys' effort today," interim head coach Travis Pearson said. "We just can't tackle very well in the back end. We gave up two explosive plays because we missed tackles. I thought the offense, except for the turnovers we had, we moved the ball down the field. We just came up on the short end of that field goal, it's a call."

Joshua Knight (Montgomery, Ala.) and Jacory Merritt (Montgomery, Ala.) led Alabama State offensively with Knight hauling a career-high seven receptions for 104 yards, while Merritt finished with 69 yards on nine carries on the day. Keron Jones (Oxon Hill, Md.) caught four passes, while Ryan Nettles (Evergreen, Ala.) went 18-for-32 for 208 yards and three touchdowns.

Christian Clark led the defensive effort for the Hornets with six tackles, including a pair of tackles for loss.

Mississippi Valley State got on the board first in the game when Conor Regan went in from one-yard out on the first possession of the game to finish off a nine-play, 72-yard drive with 10:54 to play in the first quarter. The Hornets tied the game up when Brandon McDuffie (San Antonio, Texas) with 7:48 to play in the quarter, before the Delta Devils took a touchdown lead on an eight-yard run with 3:52 to play in the first.

Alabama State scored 10 unanswered to take a 17-14 lead including a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown by Robert McMinn (Hollywood, Fla.) – his first of the season. Alabama State came out in the second half and marched down the field on their first possession that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Nettles to Ezra Gray (Lynn Haven, Fla.) that put the Hornets up 24-17.

However, Mississippi Valley State scored on back-to-back big plays, an 83-yard touchdown pass and a 93-yard touchdown pass to go up 31-24 with 1:27 to play in the third. Wallace Corker (Stockbridge, Ga.) tied things up for the Hornets on an 11-yard reception with 7:10 to play before Mississippi Valley State put up 14 unanswered for the final margin.

"We got caught up in the words of the game," Pearson said. "You just have to go out there and do your job and play for 60 minutes. If you play for 60 minutes, the chips fall where they should. We have two more at home beginning with Texas Southern, we just need to go back to the drawing board and win ourselves a game."

The loss snaps an 11-game winning streak against Mississippi Valley State with the last loss coming in 2008 in a game played in Chicago (Ill.). It is the first time the Hornets have fallen to Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena since 2005.

Alabama State returns to action next weekend at ASU Stadium against Texas Southern, with kick set for 2 pm on ESPN+. It will be the first of two games in five days for the Hornets who face Tuskegee on Thanksgiving Day.

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