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HBCU leads SEC basketball squad at half but falters late

Courtesy of Alabama State Athletics

BATON ROUGE, La. — TJ Madlock totaled 21 points and Amarr Knox added 20, but the Alabama State men’s basketball team fell to the LSU Tigers 74-61 on the road Sunday, after the Montgomery, AL HBCU had a lead over the SEC team at the half.

ASU collected 38 rebounds in Sunday’s game compared to LSU’s 33, led by 10 boards from Mario Andrews. The Hornets also cleaned up the offensive glass, turning 15 rebounds into 11 second-chance points.

The Hornets’ defense effectively took away the basketball in Sunday’s game, forcing 15 LSU turnovers. Those takeaways turned into nine points on the other end of the floor. Madlock’s two steals led the way individually for the HBCU against the SEC from Baton Rouge, LA.

Alabama State shot 20-of-60 for the game (33.3 percent), but 1-of-20 from distance (5.0%). The Hornets made 20-of-26 free throws (76.9%).

Alabama State won the rebounding battle, 38-33, and 15-6 on the offensive board. LSU did have a 25-9 advantage in points off turnovers as both teams turned the ball over 15 times.

HBCU SEC LSU Alabama State

How It Happened

After falling behind 25-22, Alabama State went on an 8-0 run with 3:59 left in the first half to take a 30-25 lead. The Hornets then added one point to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 32-26 advantage. Alabama State did most of its first-half damage in the paint, scoring 16 of its 32 points close to the basket.

LSU took a 35-34 lead before Alabama State went on a 9-0 run, finished off by Madlock’s three, to seize a 43-35 lead with 13:43 in the contest. LSU re-asserted control, outscoring the Hornets 39-18 the rest of the way to hand ASU the 74-61 loss. The Hornets got out on the break in the period, scoring nine fast break points.

Game Notes» Madlock, Knox, and CJ Hines combined to account for 89 percent of the Hornets’ points.
» ASU lost despite a 38-33 rebounding advantage.
» The HBCU hoops defense forced 15 turnovers against the SEC opponent.
» ASU cleaned up on the offensive glass, collecting 15 offensive boards in the game.

Alabama State Head Coach Tony Madlock

On his words to the team pregame…
“Just play hard, man, it’s what we’re about. Our team and our program is about being as tough as possible, being physical, just being grimy and we showed it for maybe about 30 minutes this afternoon so hopefully we can continue and put 40 minutes together.”

On a similar outcome as last year and how they will move forward…
“Well, it can go either way. Hopefully, it shows you that if you play the right way, that you can play with anybody in the country. But also, the part that wears a little bit is that you don’t win these games. You know, nothing good comes from losing games so hopefully you can learn from them. All the good things you say ok let’s try to keep doing, and the bad things let’s throw it out.”

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