Thomas Late Field Goal Gives ASU Come-from-Behind Win over Chicago State; Waters Named to All Tournament Team

NICEVILLE, Floridia  – Torloft Thomas hit a running one-hander under the basket with 1.2 seconds left to give Alabama State a come-from-behind 66-64 win over Chicago State. The basket culminated a 16-point comeback for the Hornets in recording their second win of the season.

"We were tasking bad shots that put us in the hole early on, but we had some good shots and they weren't falling for us," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. "Once we got down we started to hurry and rushing ourselves and put ourselves deeper in the hole."

"Once we settled down we started to move the ball. We told them the shots would start to fall and we moved the ball and shared it with each other and in the second half the shots started to fall for us. I was glad to see the guys stick to the game plan and we started to play good defense as well."

After suffering through another poor shooting half, the Hornets (2-3) picked it up in the second half and shot 50 percent from the field and added four three point field goals. ASU did not get to the free throw line a lot in the half, but did manage to hit seven of its eight free throws.

The Hornets defense also picked it up in the second half holding the Cougars (3-3) to only 23 points and 32 percent shooting. The Hornets full court press seemed to take a lot out of CSU to help in the Hornets comeback.

"I thought our press did a lot to help us get back in the game," Jackson said. "We thought our five could start jamming their guards and we were able to get our hands on a lot of passes and it paid off. We made them do some things they did not want to do."

Jamel Waters scored a game-high 19 points to lead ASU's offense. He added three rebounds, three assists and a game-high five steals in being named to the All-Tournament Team.

Thomas finished the game with 15 points and a game-high five assists. Bobby Brown and Corvon Butler led the Hornets off the bench with 13 and 12 points respectively. Those two were also ASU's leading rebounders as Brown had seven and Butler added six.

ASU's press defense caused havoc for the Cougars all game as they forced 26 turnovers with led to 23 points.

Another cold shooting first half put the Hornets behind the eight ball trailing 41-29 at halftime. ASU only shot 22 percent from the field while CSU was able to knock down 50 percent of their shots and that includes hitting five of their 10 three point shots.

CSU out rebounded ASU 27-21 which led to nine second chance points and ASU only hit eight of its 13 free throw attempts in the first 20 minutes.

"We didn't shoot the ball very well, but we played hard and when you play hard you give yourself a chance to win a ball game and our guys did that this afternoon."

Hornets will not have a lot of time to rest as they will leave Monday for Evansville, Ind., where they are scheduled to face the Purple Aces of Evansville Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.

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COURTESY ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION