MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama State University males’s basketball could not overcome a chilly capturing after falling 75–64 to Jackson State Univeristy on Saturday in a rematch of final season’s SWAC championship sport on the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
The Hornets (4–12, 1–2 SWAC) positioned three gamers in double figures, led by Tyler Byrd’s 18 factors on 7-of-17 capturing. Ajon Anderson added 16 factors and 4 assists, whereas Damerien Yates delivered his first profession double-double with 12 factors and 11 rebounds. But Alabama State struggled to discover rhythm offensively, capturing simply 32.9% from the sphere and a pair of of twenty-two from past the arc.
Jackson State (3–12, 2–0) used a 15–0 first-half run to construct a double-digit lead it by no means relinquished. Ruffin powered the Tigers with 36 factors, together with an 18-for-19 efficiency on the free-throw line, and added 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Jackson State’s physicality on the glass additionally proved decisive, because the Tigers out rebounded Alabama State 52–41 and turned 26 offensive boards into 20 second-chance factors.
Alabama State reduce the deficit to six halfway by way of the second half behind a burst from Byrd and Yates, however the Tigers pushed again in entrance by double digits. The Hornets by no means drew nearer than eight the remainder of the way in which.
Jerquarius Stanback scored 9 factors and grabbed six rebounds for Alabama State, whereas R’Chaun King and Mario Andrews mixed for 14 factors off the bench.
The Hornets host Alcorn State on Monday at 6 p.m.