GRAMBLING, Louisiana -- In a game where Alabama State's two leading scorers only scored 10 points, the Hornets bench came through to lead the Hornets to a conference-opening 68-51 win over Grambling State in Southwestern Athletic Conference action.Jamel Waters and DeMarcus Robinson were ASU's leading scorers averaging 28 points between them and finished the game with only 10 points as Waters scored eight and Robinson two.
That let the bench duo of Bobby Brown and Terrance LeFlore come off the bench to lead the team in scoring. Brown's 18 points led the team and LeFlore scored a career-high 13 points, all in the second half, as ASU's bench finished with 33 points.
"Terrance LeFlore came in and did a good job in the second half," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. "I am playing him at two positions and he is a freshman. He is still trying to learn his way but he works hard and Bobby Brown could be a starter. But he comes in off the bench and he gives us some points there around the basket as well as from the outside."
The hornets struggled from the field shooting 41 percent (25-61), but turned it up in the second half hitting 50 percent (15-30) to break open a game that was close at halftime.
ASU's (7-5/1-0 SWAC) big run came at the start of the second half as the Hornets opened up a slim two-point halftime lead by scoring the first seven points out of the locker room to lead 38-39 and went on to lead by as much as 19 at 66-47.
Brandon Graham was the only starter to get to double digits in scoring with 13 points. Graham, Brown and LeFlore had three three point field goals each as ASU hit nine of their 25 attempts (31%). ASU also did a solid job at the free throw line connecting on nine of their 12 attempts for 75 percent.
ASU out rebounded the home team 40-34 with Luther Page and Robinson leading the way with eight boards each. Robinson's eight rebounds was a career-high.
Even though Waters only scored eight points he still showed why he is the SWAC's top assist performer finishing the game with seven. The Hornets once again did a solid job taking care of the ball and had 15 assists compared to only 10 turnovers.
"We did a good job of moving the ball around and trying to be efficient in our offense," Jackson said. "The 15 assists really stands out, and the rebounding going to the glass and getting offensive rebounds. 17 offensive boards are things we have been preaching along with playing defense while at the same time going to the glass and getting second chances for ourselves and the guys really did a good job of doing that tonight."
ASU's defense held GSU (1-9/0-1 SWAC) to 37.5 percent (18-48) and did a good job on GSU's leading scorers A'Torri Shine, Ramond Brown and Antwan Scott. All three came into the game scoring in double digits and between them were averaging 42.2 points per game.
Scott was the only one of the three to reach double digits with a team-high 12. That was 1.5 points under his average. Shine was the team's leading scorer at 17.9 and he could only manage seven points on the evening and Brown was well under his 10.9 average with only two points.
"We did get some stops," Jackson said. "We wanted to come out in the second half and get some stops and try to build a lead. We didn't want to be going down the stretch in a one point ball game because it is so difficult to win here. But the guys hung together, got some stops, shared the ball and made some shots that pushed it (the lead) out to a few points and we were able to hang on."
ASU went into the locker room clinging to a 31-29 lead. ASU only shot 32 percent in the opening half, but five of their 10 field goals were three point field goals. Brown had three of those and led ASU with 13 first half points.
Dandridge had 10 first half points to lead the host as Grambling shot a sizzling 52 percent from the field. The difference in the first half was ASU turning nine GSU turnovers into 12 points while ASU only committed four turnovers which did not lead to any points for the Tigers.
The Hornets will continue their conference season-opening road trip at Jackson State Monday, Jan. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Box Score
COURTESY ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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