PINE BLUFF, Ark. (Interstat) — Arkansas-Pine Bluff defeated Alabama State 90-79 in a Southwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Monday night at HPER Complex. The Golden Lions led 42-32 at halftime and maintained a double-digit advantage for much of the second half. Asjon Anderson led the Hornets with 23 points. For Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alex Mirhosseini scored 21 points and Quion Williams added 17 points and eight assists. Ramel Lloyd also scored 19 points for the Golden Lions. Arkansas-Pine Bluff improved to 5-10 overall. Alabama State fell to 4-10. An announced crowd of 648 attended.

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (Interstat) — In a game defined by a dominant interior defensive presence and a decisive second-half surge, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions overcame a stellar individual performance from Alabama State’s Asjon Anderson to secure a 90-79 victory in a Southwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Monday night at the HPER Complex. The Golden Lions, who improved to 5-10 overall, used a balanced and efficient offensive attack to pull away after halftime, outscoring the Hornets 48-47 in a second half that saw them stretch a 10-point halftime lead. Alabama State fell to 4-10 with the loss. The most critical phase of the contest came early in the second half, immediately after Alabama State had mounted a threat. The Hornets, trailing 42-32 at the break, opened the second period with a quick 6-0 run, capped by a layup from Asjon Anderson, to cut the deficit to four points and force an Arkansas-Pine Bluff timeout just 90 seconds into the half. The Golden Lions responded emphatically. They weathered the initial surge and then systematically dismantled the Alabama State defense over the next several minutes. A key component was neutralizing the Hornets’ early shot-blocking prowess. Alabama State’s Jerquarius Stanback, who swatted six shots in the first half, found his influence limited after the break as Arkansas-Pine Bluff began to find seams and connect from the perimeter. The Golden Lions’ backcourt duo of Alex Mirhosseini and Quion Williams took control. Mirhosseini, a guard from Arlington, Texas, led all scorers with 21 points, including three 3-pointers, while Williams, from Jonesboro, Arkansas, orchestrated the offense with a stat line of 17 points, eight assists and a block. Their backcourt mate, Trevon Payton, added eight points and six assists, providing steady ball-handling against Alabama State’s pressure. Ramel Lloyd, a 6-foot-6 guard from Long Beach, California, provided a crucial scoring punch off the bench with 19 points, matching the output of Alabama State’s Cam Palesse. Milhan Charles added nine points and was a physical presence inside for the Golden Lions. Alabama State was carried by the dynamic play of Asjon Anderson. The 6-foot-2 guard from Tacoma, Washington, poured in 23 points and dished out four assists, relentlessly attacking the rim to keep the Hornets within striking distance. Cam Palesse supported him with 19 points, and Micah Simpson added 12 points and four assists. The Hornets’ defense was anchored early by Stanback, whose six blocks set a formidable tone in the paint during the first half. Despite Stanback’s rim protection and Anderson’s scoring, Alabama State could not sustain enough offensive consistency or string together stops to overtake the Golden Lions. Arkansas-Pine Bluff shot effectively from the field and from three-point range, while also capitalizing at the free-throw line to maintain a comfortable margin throughout the final 15 minutes. The game’s tempo and outcome defied pregame projections, as Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which had been installed as a 2-point underdog, controlled the contest for the majority of the night. The combined score of 169 points also went over the pregame over/under line of 161.5. A crowd of 648 at the HPER Complex saw the Golden Lions even their conference record and build momentum following a win over Alabama A&M this past Saturday. Alabama State, coming off a convincing road win at Mississippi Valley State, saw its hopes for a conference road sweep dashed by the Golden Lions’ second-half execution. Arkansas-Pine Bluff now prepares for a two-game road swing in Texas, facing Texas Southern on Saturday and Prairie View A&M on Monday. Alabama State returns home to host Jackson State on Saturday and Alcorn State next Monday as both teams continue SWAC play. The two teams will meet again in Montgomery on February 14.

SWAC Foes Seek First D-I Win in Pine Bluff Showdown PINE BLUFF, Ark. (Interstat) — Two teams searching for their first win against a Division I opponent this season will meet Monday night when Alabama State visits Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a SWAC men’s basketball contest at the HPER Complex. Both the Hornets (3-9) and Golden Lions (3-10) enter conference play with identical overall records built largely against challenging non-conference slates. Each team’s three victories have come against lower-level competition, with their combined 0-19 record against D-I foes highlighting the struggle. Alabama State arrives on a four-game skid, most recently falling 88-67 at Memphis on Dec. 22. Guard Tyler Byrd, a player to watch, contributed 11 points and three assists in that loss. Over his last four games, Byrd has averaged 10.5 points, including a 15-point outing in a Dec. 7 loss at Tennessee-Martin. The Hornets’ offense has sputtered during the losing streak, failing to reach 70 points in three of the four games. Asjon Anderson (16 points vs. Memphis) and Damarien Yates (13 points) have provided supplementary scoring. Arkansas-Pine Bluff snapped a six-game losing streak with a pair of dominant home wins over non-DI opponents Champion Christian and Ecclesia in mid-December, scoring 138 and 114 points respectively. The Golden Lions’ last game against D-I competition was a 117-84 loss at Tulsa on Dec. 10. UAPB’s offense exploded in those two wins, led by Quion Williams’ 29 points and 18 assists against Champion Christian and Jaquan Scott’s 33-point performance. The team will look to carry that momentum into SWAC play after facing a brutal early road schedule that included losses at Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and SMU. Monday’s matchup opens the conference schedule for both programs. The game will be the first of two meetings this season, with the rematch scheduled for Feb. 14 in Montgomery, Alabama. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. EST.