LUBBOCK, Texas | Alabama State closed out their non-conference portion of the schedule, falling to No. 25 Texas Tech 75-53 at the United Supermarkets Arena Wednesday afternoon.

Gerald Liddell (Cibolo, Texas) led Alabama State with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, while grabbing five rebounds and three steals. Meanwhile, Trace Young (Owensboro, Ky.) added 14 points and six rebounds for the Hornets who finished the day shooting 35.3 (18-of-51) percent from the floor, while shooting 29.6 (8-of-27) percent from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech (10-2) was paced by Davion Warren with 15 points. Kevin McCullar and Adonis Arms each added 11 for the Red Raiders who finished the day shooting 50.9 (29-of-57) percent from the floor and 33.3 (9-of-27) percent from beyond the arc.

The two teams struggled for nearly three minutes to open the game, combining for one shot before Liddell scored the game's first basket on a jumper from the elbow with 17:40 to play in the opening half. They would grow the lead to 5-2 on a Young three-pointer with 16:59 to play in opening half and held a 12-10 lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the half.

Texas Tech (10-2) went on a run at the point, a 7-0 run over two minutes to take a 17-12 lead before Kenny Strawbridge (Rockford, Ill.) put a halt to that run with a three-pointer with 9:52 to play in the half to trim the lead to 17-15. Following that basket, the Red Raiders went on an 12-0 run later in the half to build their lead with the run ending on a DJ Jackson (San Bernardino, Calif.) three-pointer from the right wing before the Hornets went into the locker room trailing 42-27.

The second half was much the same story as Texas Tech was able to build the lead to 16 before Alabama State was able to pull to within 12 on Juan Reyna (San Antonio, Texas) with 5:22 to play, before Texas Tech was able to connect on back-to-back three-pointers from Sardaar Calhoun pushed the lead to 20.

UP NEXT
Alabama State opens Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play on the road with a two-game swing beginning with Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena (Miss.). The game is scheduled to tip at 4 pm on January 3.

QUOTES (from associate head coach Trey Johnson)
"It was like our last game, we played well but we just had some mental lapses on the offensive end. Turnovers again, turnovers hurt us again, we had 17 turnovers in the first half. That is going to make it hard to win. We have stuff we can clean up, a lot of them unforced, understanding the game and our limitations as individuals and as a team. I thought we chipped away, guys fought, we cut it to 12 and had a mental lapse on defense. Now we go back and learn from it and get ready for conference."

"You've got a real sample size to look at. You are talking about 12 games to this point. As individuals you are who you are, as a team we are who we are. We go back and look back at those 12 games and see what was good for us. What worked for us, both on offense and on defense and build game plans around that and attack those game plans. If guys take a lot at their numbers, everybody from coaches down to players, it's a good time to take a hard look in the mirror and see how we can be better as individuals and just apply it."

"Reset. It's a new season. We are a one-bid league and what we do in conference matters. Obviously, you want to win every game you play, but right now we are 0-0. No one around the country cares what happened, it's all about moving forward in our conference. I just told the guys to take a mental break and a physical reset, and let's attack it head-on."

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