MONTGOMERY – The Alabama State men’s basketball team had five players reach double-digit scoring as ASU started the season with a 105-64 win over Auburn Montgomery.
DeMarcus Robinson led the way with 23 points and Brandon Graham added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Other double digit scorers were Bobby Brown (14) and Maurice Strong (12). Freshman and Montgomery native Steve Rogers had 13 points in his ASU debut knocking down three field goals, two 3s, and hitting all five of his free throws.
“I thought we came out very aggressive to begin the game both offensively and defensively,” Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. “We were able to get out and push the ball hard. Jamel was doing a good job of finding guys, and actually they were doing a good job of finding each other.”
“We got off to a good start. We rebounded the first missed shot and we were able to get out and run and it was just good to play against another opponent. We have been going for a while and this is our first time of seeing someone else.”
The Hornets (1-0) shot 52 percent from the field (38-73). ASU finished the game hitting 10 three point field goals (44%) as Graham finished with four.
Jamel Waters only shot the ball six times, but hit four of those for eight points. He also had a game-high seven assists and two steals.
“At times we did a pretty good job of getting the ball up and down the court,” Jackson said. “We tried to get the ball out of the net when they scored or get the rebound off the glass and get it out quick. The guys were really running the lanes hard tonight and it was good to see the guys trying to put into action the things we had been working on in practice.”
The crowd was ready to see ASU’s new big men in action and both wound up playing at the same time for a good amount of time. Wendell Lewis scored seven points and had seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action and Robert Ojeah got in eight minutes and added four points and a steal.
AUM’s Jeremy Newton led the Warhawks with 22 points and Rodrick Robinson had 11. AUM shot 38 percent from the field and hit 33 percent of their three point attempts.
ASU won the rebounding battle 52-29 while also forcing 15 turnovers. ASU had eight steals and three blocked shots.
“I thought we did a pretty decent job of covering guys, but we had some letdowns,” Jackson said. “Those are the things we have to go back and correct. Overall I thought we did a good job of hustling and trying to get to the glass and to get some offensive rebounds. But we have a lot of stuff we have to work on, but again overall I thought it was a good team effort.”
ASU bolted out to a 53-33 halftime lead behind 53 percent shooting from the field and that includes hitting six of their 12 three point field goals. Robinson led the way with 15 first-half points while Strong added 12.
