Alabama State Beats Grambling State, Wins SWAC, NCAA Bid

ASU Coach Lewis Jackson and the Hornets are rolling to the Big Dance

GARLAND, Texas - Tremayne Moorer scored 14 points and Tramaine Butler added 13, lifting Alabama State to a 65-48 victory over Grambling on Saturday night to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

The Hornets are sure to be a low seed considering they are only 17-17. At least they have momentum going for them — they were 6-16 at the start of February, but head into the tournament on an 11-1 run. This victory avenged their only loss in their recent spurt, a one-pointer on the road in the regular-season finale.

Grambling (12-21) reached the SWAC tournament finals for the first time on a big roll of its own, winning nine of 11. The sixth-seeded Tigers led 28-26 at halftime, then fell apart.

Grambling falls, 65-48

The red-hot Grambling basketball team's fire finally burned out in the second half of the SWAC tournament championship game. The Tigers led Alabama State by two points at halftime, but were badly out-played in the second half and lost 65-48 at the Special Events Center in Garland, Texas.

The second half opened with GSU leading 28-26, and Alabama State quickly tied the game at 30-30 after a jump shot from Shareif Adamu. A Tramaine Butler layup gave the Hornets the lead, and from that point the lead only continued to grow.



ASU Throttles Grambling; Wins SWAC Tournament Championship

Garland, Tx. –Alabama State defeated Grambling State 65-48 at the Special Events Center in the 2011 Farmers Insurance Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament Championship. The victory gave Lewis Jackson his second conference tournament crown in his six years as head coach and the school's fourth.

ASU led 10-4 at the 15 minute mark of the first half. GSU responded with a pair of layups each from Justin Patton and Donald Qualls tying the game at 10 apiece. Qualls scored 35 points the night prior in the semi-finals against Jackson State. He finished with only 12 points on the night to lead Grambling.

Grambling's first lead came off of a Peter Robinson jump hook to make the score 22-20, with just under seven minutes to play before halftime. Four free throws later from Qualls and all of a sudden GSU led 26-20. The biggest deficit the hornets would see all tournament long.

READ MORE, CLICK EACH TITLE.

VISIT: BAMASTATESPORTS