BATON ROUGE, La. | Amarr Knox led three players in double figures for Alabama State in a 73-62 loss to Southern at the F.G. Clark Activity Center in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action on Monday night.
 
Knox led Alabama State (11-13, 6-5 SWAC) with 19 while Micah Octave added 15 and eight rebounds. CJ Hines added 10 in the loss.
 
TJ Madlock finished the night with just four points but added six rebounds and seven assists.
 
The Hornets trailed by double digits in the second half and were able to get the deficit to four at 62-58 with 2:38 remaining on a Knox free throw before four consecutive free throws stretched the lead to 66-58. The lead stayed that way until a Darrell Reed free throw trimmed the deficit to 66-59 with 1:14 to play.
 
Southern (15-9, 9-2 SWAC) was able to use free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.  Derrick Tezeno led the Jags with 19 points and Brandon Davis added 18, while Dre'Shawn Allen added 11 and Tidjane Dioumassi added 10 points and a game-high 12 assists.
 
How It Happened

• Alabama State shot 44.8 (13-of-29) percent from the floor and connected on 40 (4-of-10) percent from the free throw line.
• The Hornets did not attempt a free throw in the first 20 minutes and were not credited with any fastbreak points, while Southern shot just two free throws.
• Southern finished the first half shooting 44.8 (13-of-29) percent from the floor and 33.3 (5-of-15) percent from beyond the arc.
• The two teams played a stretch of 9:16 in the first half without a timeout on the floor and Southern led 29-22.
• After the Jags jumped out to a 10-point lead with 4:07 to play in the first half, Alabama State was able to trim it to three heading to halftime with a 6-0 to close out the first stanza.
• For the game, the Hornets shot 41.5 (22-of-53) percent from the floor and 41.2 (7-of-17) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot 78.6 (11-of-14) percent from beyond the free throw line.
• Meanwhile, Southern finished the night shooting 42.6 (23-of-54) percent from the floor and 34.8 (8-of-23) percent from beyond the arc. They also finished the night shooting 82.6 (19-of-23) percent from the free throw line.

Alabama State Notes

• Alabama State extended its streak of consecutive three-pointers made on the road to 186 on a first half three-pointer. The streak dates back to the 2011-12 season.
• Madlock had five first half assists, leaving him short of the team high for an entire game set by Hines against North Carolina A&T back on Nov. 24 in Birmingham. He was able to match the mark in the second half before setting a new team-high for the year.
• The Hornets did not attempt a free throw until the 16-minute mark in the second half, the latest in a game this season the Hornets have been to the charity stripe.
• Isaiah Range played against Southern for the first time since March 3, 2022, after missing both contests last season following his season-ending injury. The senior dished out four assists in the loss.
• The crowd of 3,967 was the largest in conference action this season for the Hornets, topping the 3,200 set at home against Bethune-Cookman on Feb. 3.

Quotable from head coach Tony Madlock
Opening statement about two games in the state of Louisiana..
"Well it starts with Grambling and it's always tough to go on the road and we understand that, but to go to the first place teams in the league. We were right there in the first half and came out in the second half and went up by one. We just didn't make enough plays down the stretch and when you're on the road you have to do things as close to perfect as possible. You have to get 50/50 balls, you have to be able to score the basketball and we shot about 30 percent that game. It just didn't turn out the way we wanted it to."
 
Tonight's game, you were able to get close late…
"It's a game of runs, we talk about it all the time. You are going to be on either side of that run and when things aren't going good, you have to find a way to fight through it like we did tonight. Again we were on the road with a team that is tied for first place and defensively we just didn't make the plays we needed to make late. You have to make winning plays no matter what it is whether it's getting a big rebound, getting on the floor for a loose ball, you got to take a charge, make a tough shot, we just didn't do it. The guys fought, I'm proud of how we fought. We didn't rebound the ball like we normally do, we are really good in offensive rebounding but we were only able to get five. The biggest difference in the game was at the free throw line, they made eight more than we did – the numbers look similar but they were 19 out of 23. We just didn't get to the line enough, we didn't drive the ball, and weren't aggressive and make the officials make the call. We will continue to work on those things."
 
Getting a chance to get back on track and do it at home…
"It's always good. We are excited to get back in front of our fans with a good team in UAPB coming in. We know they can shoot and are really explosive, we are just going to have to be locked in this week, guard the line, and get out fast."

Up Next
Alabama State returns home for a pair of games beginning Saturday when it celebrates Alumni Weekend against UAPB on Saturday, Feb. 17. The game tips at 4 p.m. inside the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
 
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