Albany State takes pair of homecoming victories

ALBANY — It was a win that everybody could feel good about.

There’s nothing like beating your rival on homecoming.

Even Albany State women’s basketball coach Robert Skinner had to smile about what he saw Saturday evening.

The Lady Rams kicked off homecoming Saturday with a 74-64 win over Fort Valley State at the HPER Gymnasium.

ASU took an early 4-2 lead after a 3-pointer from Keidra Green. Both teams continued to trade baskets in the first half, with points in the paint being nearly nonexistent. The Lady Wildcats ended the first half with six blocks, while ASU had seven.

A pair of free throws and a basket from Artisha Holston helped the Lady Rams end the first half with a 33-28 lead.

Another three from Green and a circus shot from Ieshia Young at the beginning of the second half helped spark a 9-2 run that helped the Lady Rams extend the lead to double digits. Skinner said his team executed better and were able to get looks that weren’t as available to them in the first half.

“We just started moving the ball a little bit better,” he said. “When we moved the ball, it was enabling them to be in position to block shots. We kept their bigs on the outside, kept them moving around some so they wouldn’t just be stationary under the basket.”

The Lady Rams continued to play aggressive defense, make hustle plays and built a 20-point lead with a little under five minutes left. Skinner put his reserves in and watched as the lead dwindled to eight with a little over a minute left. Skinner said they urged the second unit to be patient, but ultimately the environment got the best of them.

“They kind of felt the effects of the crowd and the pressure and then Fort Valley was pressing them also,” he said. “So you couple all of those things together and it made a difference in the way we responded.”

Young finished with 16 points as did Holston, who also had 12 rebounds. Green rounded out the top scorers list with 14. The Lady Rams dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lady Wildcats 60-45. They had just six turnovers in the first half, which pleased Skinner, who felt they played better than they did in their previous game against Claflin this week.

“I think we were a little more disciplined in our play tonight,” Skinner said. “We took our time on offense and were very aggressive defensively, which I wanted to see.”

Albany State is now 9-9 on the season and 8-3 in the SIAC.

ALBANY STATE MEN 98, FORT VALLEY STATE 90: Albany State donned their “House of No Return” warm-up shirts and protected home court. They defeated Fort Valley in their homecoming game.

Interim head coach Michael Moore said he was proud of his team for winning a gritty game.

“This was just a gut check win for us,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys, to get this win for the alumni and they’ve done two things for me this year; they defeated two schools where I formally coached at…I was really proud of how they played down the stretch. This was just a gut check win and something that we really needed.”

The Rams came out on fire knocking down eight 3-pointers in the first half. Larry Bullock and Dominique Pollard were a combined 5 of 5 from behind the arc and finished with 12 points apiece. The Rams’ lights out shooting put them ahead 31-12 with 10:50 left. The lead would not be safe as Fort Valley State came back and after a 3-pointer from Ralph Wilson, the lead was cut to four.

ASU went into halftime clinging to a 47-44 lead.

Earl Farnum came alive in the beginning of the second half and scored ASU’s first four points. He finished with a game-high 23, 18 of which came in the second half. The Rams had a 62-51 lead with 16:15 left.

Farnum would also be involved in a skirmish with Fort Valley’s Tyrone Brinson. Elbows were thrown and several players from both teams had to be held back. When the dust settled, technical fouls were issued to both teams and several players were ejected for leaving the bench, including ASU’s Douglas Storey and Talonzo Edwards.

“I told them keep your calm, it’s a heated rivalry,” Moore said. “It wasn’t anything dirty or malicious on both teams. It was just good, clean, high intensity. And they just tried to turn it up and move their game up to another notch, which they did because they cut the lead down to one. But we kept our composure and we executed.”

Wilson’s shooting helped the Wildcats get within two, but a big three by Davetom Odom followed by a steal and a layup by Farnum would serve as the knockout punches.

Five other players besides Farnum finished in double figures. Bullock finished with 17, Demetri Wheeler added 15, Pollard had 17, Odom added 11 and Darshtyn Baker finished with 10.

The Rams are 7-11 on the season and 3-8 in the SIAC.