MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Maurice Strong scored a team-high 14 points in leading Alabama State to a 71-50 win over Grambling State to open Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play.
Strong only played five minutes in the opening half after picking up two quick fouls, but came out in the second half scoring 12 of his points on six-of-10 shooting. He also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
“We came out in the second half and was able to get some things done and again it was Maurice that was able to give us that spark that we needed,” Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. “He’s big for us on the glass, he plays with a lot of energy and effort and he got us going there.”
Joining Strong in double digits was Luther Page, who again came off the bench to supply some energy. He finished with 12 points and Wendell Lewis added 11.
After struggling from the field in the first half of action, ASU (5-5/1-0 SWAC) picked it up in the second half shooting 56 percent and scoring 43 points on 18 of 32 shooting.
“We talked about a lot of things (at halftime) that we were doing and that was zero,” Jackson said. “We couldn’t get anything going in the first half. We were moving in slow motion. They were out hustling us, out rebounding us, they were making shots, making their free throws and as a result we were struggling to try and hold on there. It also hurt us Maurice getting in early foul trouble.
“It was a good energy half (second half). Luther gave us a lot of energy and Wendell did some good things and that is the way we have to play, with energy and we have us use our athleticism to help us win ball games.”
ASU trailed by six late in the first half and switched to a zone which seemed to catch the Tigers by surprise. The Hornets held GSU to only two points in the last nine minutes of the first half and one basket the first five minutes of the second half to go from six down to five up and they never trailed again.
“They were driving the ball into the lane against us fairly easy and we thought the zone may slow them down and make them take jump shots,” Jackson said. “The zone worked for us and we got a few stops there and it got us going a little bit also. The zone really helped us a lot and we played it a lot there in the second half. We changed it up a little bit after they were starting to get comfortable with it.”
The Hornets finished the game shooting 47 percent from the field, but struggled from both three point range and at the free throw line. ASU only hit four of 17 from beyond the three point line and only hit nine of their 20 free throws.
ASU held GSU (2-9/0-1 SWAC) to only 23 percent shooting (5-22) and 22 points in the second half while also hitting boards more and grabbing 23 second half rebounds compared to 17 for GSU.
Three players scored most of GSU’s points as Mark Gray had a game-high 18 points while A’Torri Shines finished with 12 and Remond Brown added 11.
The first half was a sloppy half of basketball as the teams went into the locker room even at 28. The Hornets led early 12-8 after a Brown three pointer, but could not build on the lead.
Shine and Gray led the visitors on a 18-8 run to lead by as much as 26-20 with 8:57 left in the half. From there the Hornets held GSU scoreless for over six minutes, but could not take much of an advantage during that time only scoring six points to even the score at 26.
Gray led GSU with 10 points while Shine added eight. GSU shot 39 percent from the field while winning the rebounding battle 24-18.
For ASU, Lewis scored nine and Bobby Brown had six. ASU struggled from the field shooting 37 percent. ASU was just as cold from the free throw line hitting four of their 10 attempts
