Alabama State defeats SU in first place battle for SWAC

Alabama State served notice to the rest of the Southwestern Athletic Conference with its 59-44 defeat of Southern Monday night at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
In fact, the first place Hornets (10-7, 6-1 SWAC) made it look easy as it cruised to victory against second place SU (7-12, 5-2) by simply playing a more physical style of basketball.
For starters SU’s bench, a strength for the Jaguars as of late with strong guard play from Chris Davis and Jazz Williams was outscored 28-13. Plus, ASU outscored SU in the paint 22-12.
“I thought they (ASU) played with more toughness, more aggression than we played with,” said SU coach Rob Spivery. “We played somewhat meekly.”
A large part of SU’s problem was that it struggled to create shots all game as the Jaguars shot 31 percent from the field in the first half and 26 percent in the second. For the game SU was 15-for-52 from the field, good for 28 percent.
SU trailed most of the first half and brought the score to 16-26 with 2:46 remaining before half but simply couldn’t compete with the Hornets. Intimidation also played a role as SU had only two points in the paint at half.
“Tonight we wanted to come out and match Southern’s intensity. You have to play physical because it’s a physical game. Our guys stepped up got some big rebounds just and just played tough, that’s the kind of effort you need on the road.”
Since Spivery left ASU to coach Southern three seasons ago, the Hornets are 4-1 against the Jaguars with the last two victories coming at the F.G. Clark Center.
“When we were there coaching it was the same thing, we just beat people with toughness,” Spivery said. “Coach Jackson has those guys playing and he really learned well while we were there together. He has a very good team, good talent, good depth and their playing the way they need to play in order to win the championship.”
Before Monday night’s debacle SU had shown flashes of a team on the rise, but in defeat the closest the Jaguars ever came was within six with 13:38 remaining in the second half (30-36).
Free throw shooting hurt Southern down the stretch as they made 9-of-19 from the line.
“Even if we had made the free throws when we had them to cut the lead or to tie or go ahead, it was going to come down at the end to toughness,” Spivery said. “The toughest team tonight proved to be Alabama State.”
Senior guard Steffon Wiley provided a brief spark for SU as his team made a run early in the second, but his 11 points, two assists and one steal weren’t enough.
Jazz Williams had eight points and one steal and Davis had nine point’s one assist and one steal.
“We wanted to come out be aggressive offensively and defensively,” Jackson said. That’s our mindset. We wanted to go after their best players and attack.”
Andrew Hayles led ASU with 14 points, three assists and one steal. Joel Bosh had 12 points two blocks and one steal and Brandon Brooks had 12 points and three assists.
“This was a big win for us and a team effort all around,” Jackson said. “It was for first place so this is a quality win against a power team.”
LAGNIAPPE
Before taking the head coaching job as SU, Spivery coached at ASU where Jackson worked under him until he left in 2005. SU concludes its three game home stand Saturday when the Jaguars take on Alcorn State at 4 p.m.