ITTA BENA, Miss. | Kenny Strawbridge (Rockford, Ill.) paced four players in double figures as a shorthanded Alabama State squad picked up a conference-opening 84-75 victory over Mississippi Valley State at the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex on Monday night.

Strawbridge paced Alabama State (2-11, 1-0 SWAC) with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor, including four three-pointers in the victory. He also picked up four rebounds and three steals to help end a six-game losing streak for the Hornets. The road win was first away from home for Alabama State since defeating Mississippi Valley State (January 12, 2021), ending a 15-game streak away from home.

The redshirt sophomore was joined in double figures by Isaiah Range (Cedar Hill, Texas) with a season-high 16 points and eight rebounds. He finished the night shooting 7-of-11 from the floor in 38 minutes, while recording a pair of assists. E.J. Clark (Dallas, Texas) finished with a career-high 14 points and seven assists. He and Range combined to play 70 minutes, dishing out a combined nine assists compared to zero turnovers.

DJ Jackson (San Bernardino, Calif.) added a career-high 10 points, three assists and three steals, while Michael Barber (Jackson, Miss.) finished the game with a career-high 11 rebounds.

Alabama State finished the night shooting 53.7 (29-of-54) percent from floor and 53.8 (7-of-13) percent from beyond the arc, while connecting on 67.9 (19-of-28) percent from the free throw line. They connected on eight of ten from the line in the final three minutes to seal the victory after Mississippi Valley State chipped a 17-point lead for the Hornets down to two with just over six minutes remaining.

After the Delta Devils trimmed the lead to 60-58, Alabama State went on an 18-10 run over the next five minutes to push the lead back to double figures.

Robert Carpenter led Mississippi Valley State with 23 points and six rebounds, while Caleb Hunter added 12 and David McCoy 10.

UP NEXT
Alabama State returns to action in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play at UAPB on Wednesday night with a 7:30 pm tip scheduled.

QUOTES from associate head coach Trey Johnson
"Excited. Anytime you can get a win, I don't care who it is against or what point of the year it is, there is no better way to start off conference than 1-0. It's a much better feeling than starting the other way around. I thought the guys, with only having eight guys, I thought they gave us everything they had. Obviously, we had some mental lapses down the stretch at some key points, but I think that has to do with fatigue and playing minutes they have never played before. I thought they did a great job of stepping up."

"One guy we knew we could count on that has been in this fire before was Kenny (Strawbridge), we knew if we could execute the offense and get him the ball in low post and mid-range that we could get something good out of it. He stepped up big time. Also, Isaiah (Range) in his first SWAC game, he had zero turnovers and 16 points. I thought he helped calm us as well, an extra ball handler and active defender, I thought he did a really good job."

"It's just a different mindset. You tend to press a little when your back is against the wall and you've lost your first one, then you have to go to another one on the road. We are going to attack it the same way, this Pine Bluff team is a very good basketball team. They are going to play hard; coach Bozeman has been doing a great job of instilling his culture in those guys. It is going to be another tough road game, but that is what we expect in conference. We don't expect anything to be given to us. With these same eight guys, we are going to go to war and know they are going to give us everything they have to try and get a win."

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