Albany State men lose close one to Lemoyne-Owen

ALBANY — Albany State men’s basketball coach Michael Moore didn’t like the call. But after further review, he said it was the right one.

With 1:51 left in regulation and the game tied at 70, LeMoyne-Owen’s Daron Maston was first whistled for a charge, then the official was over-ruled by his partner.

Maston was credited with the basket and the foul on Albany State’s Michael Green. He sank the 3-point play, sparking the Magicians to a 78-71 victory Thursday night at the HPER Gymnasium.

“He explained it to me … my player was in the arc,” Moore said. “His partner over-ruled him and told him it was a charge because we were inside of the arc. That’s the rule … I don’t like it, but it was a good call.”

But Moore was more upset with the previous play to set up Maston’s 3-point play.

After Lemoyne-Owen missed a 3-point attempt, the Magicians got the offensive rebound.

“They had the smallest guy on the court who got the ball and set up that last play,” he said. “Other than that, we just dug ourselves in too deep of a hole. We fought back, again, we just have to get the guys to settle down, play harder and smarter down the stretch.”

Albany State (2-4, 0-1 SIAC) dropped its conference opener in a game where the Magicians took away the inside basket, then the Rams couldn’t connect from the perimeter.

ASU shot 39 percent (25 of 65) from the floor, but shot a paltry 58 percent (11 of 19) from the free throw line.

The Rams led by as many as five in the first half, but LeMoyne-Owen rallied and took a 38-33 lead into halftime. ASU opened the third on a 9-4 run to grab the lead, but Lemoyne-Owen built leads as high as 13.

Brandon Hudson drilled a 3-pointer and Green sank a pair of free throws to ignite a 13-4 run late in the game to tie at 70 when Devontay Ward connected on one of his two free throws.

Maston’s 3-point play gave the Magicians the lead for good.

“We had good looks … Brandon Hudson was only person who could consistently hit the outside shot,” Moore said. “We’re executing the offense, we’re playing inside-out, people just have to hit the outside shot.”

Hudson led the Rams with 17 points, while Ward added 15. Green finished with a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

JaDon Davis finished with 12 points, while Khaliq Hughes chipped in eight points.

The Rams will have to move quickly from Thursday’s loss. They play at Georgia College Saturday at 4 p.m.