MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama State got a career-high 25 points from Wendell Lewis, but the Hornets could not take advantage of his efforts as they fell 58-49 to Texas Southern.
With the loss, the Hornets fall one game behind the Tigers with three games left to play.
ASU (16-8,12-3) only shot 21 percent in the second half compared to 43 for TSU, but the big difference in the game was the three-point field goal discrepancy.
The Hornets entered the game as the top three-point shooting team in the conference, averaging over six per game and shooting a league-leading 38 percent.
In tonight’s action, ASU only made one of their 14 attempts, while Texas Southern who was only shooting 29 percent from beyond the three point line hit six of their 19 attempts, outscoring ASU 18-3 on three’s.
Waters was the only other Hornet to reach double digits with 10 points.
He had five assist s and a game-high three steals.
Maurice Strong led the rebounding efforts with a game-high seven while DeMarcus Robinson added six.
TSU (16-12, 13-2) had three players reach double-digits led by Madarious Gibbs 16 points. Malcolm Riley added 14 and Deverell Biggs added 10.
ASU forced the Tigers into 17 turnovers, which led to 19 points, but was out rebounded 37-30 by the Tigers.
ASU was able to sneak into the locker room at halftime with a 33-31 lead.
The difference in the first half was TSU’s ability to knock down three of their 10 three point field goals while the Hornets missed all four of their attempts.
Lewis did have a big first half setting his career-high in the game’s opening 20 minutes of action with 17 points on seven of nine field goals.
He also hit three of his four free throw attempts.
Waters had six points, but only played 13 minutes as he picked up two first-half fouls.
The Hornets out shot TSU 46 percent to 44 and forced the Tigers into 11 first-half turnovers.
The Tigers did have a balanced offensive attack in the first 20 minutes with Gibbs leading the way with seven while Chris Thomas and Riley had six each.
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