Robinson, Graham Lead ASU Past AUM

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  -- DeMarcus Robinson tied his career-high with 21 points and Brandon Graham collected a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Alabama State (5-5) to a 78-51 win over Auburn Montgomery in a friendly neighborhood basketball game.

Both of Graham's totals were career-highs while Luther Page also hit double digits with 10 points to give the Hornets three double-digit scorers.

The Hornets shot 45 percent from the field (32-71) for the game and shot 35 percent (8-23) from beyond the three point line as both Robinson and Graham led the way with three threes each.

"I thought the guys came out today and got off to a good start," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. "We were able to get some early baskets and we were playing some pretty good defense and things were working for us. Things fell off some when we made some substitutions with our offense, but overall I thought it was a good effort."

"The guys came out and executed well on some things and we got a chance to play some guys that have not played in a while."

Maurice Strong collected a career-high 10 rebounds to help the Hornets our rebound AUM 48-35 and Jamel Waters, the Hornets leading scorer, tied his career-high with 10 assists while scoring seven points.

ASU came out in the second half and scored the first seven points of the half to add to ASU's halftime lead of 37-22 and pushed the lead out to 44-22. The run was a 14-0 run that covered the end of the first half and was stopped by a free throw from AUM's Spencer Jones.

ASU's largest lead of the game came on back-to-back dunks from Bobby Brown that gave ASU a 70-40 lead with 6:44 left in the game.

"Jamel was pushing the ball tonight and I think he had seven assists at halftime and he ended up with 10 and we want to get out and run more," Jackson said. "We have good athletes and we are trying to run more and put pressure on the other teams with our transition offense. There were some things that were good tonight so we just have to continue to work on the things that will allow us to be successful."

Brett Person and Brandon Howard scored 12 points each to lead AUM and Quay Davis came off the bench to add 11. ASU's defense held AUM to 32 percent shooting (18-57) and 28 percent (5-18) from beyond the three point line.

The first half saw the Hornets score the first six points of the game and go on to lead by as many as 18 points (21-3) before the Warhawks started to come back.

AUM's Howard and Davis hit back-to-back three's to cut the led to 30-22 with 3:08 left in the opening half, but that would be as close as the visitors would get.

ASU held AUM scoreless the final three minutes of the half and scored the half's final seven points which ended with Waters hitting a three at the horn to send ASU into the locker room with a 37-22 lead.

Strong and Robinson had nine points each to lead ASU and Strong added eight rebounds as the Hornets out rebounded AUM 26-18 in the opening half.

ASU will be back in action Monday, Dec. 30 when they host Thomas University at 7 p.m. It will be the Hornets final non-conference action of the season before starting Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play at Grambling Jan. 4.

"It's very important (to play AUM and Thomas) to play these games and we have some things we need to work on in our offense as well as our defense," Jackson said. "It's important to play some games before we go into conference play and we have this game scheduled (AUM) and another on Monday (Thomas)."

"We have to come out and play better, especially on defense and getting into the passing lane. I thought we did a good job of rebounding but the challenges are going to get stronger so we have to try and improve day in and day out."

Box Score

COURTESY ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION