November 17, 2017

ALBANY- Catawba College held on for a 77-69 win over Albany State University in game two of the 2017 Rams Rising Tournament Friday night.

In the tournament opener, Montevallo defeated Columbus State 73-62. Saturday's action will kick off at 12 noon with Montevallo taking on Catawba followed by a matchup between Columbus State and Albany State.

In the win over ASU, the Indians pick up their first victory of the season behind the duo of Jerrin Morrison and Malik Constantine. Both players registered double-doubles; Morrison with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Constantine tallied 21 points and game high 12 boards.

The Indians scored the first five points of the game and would lead the entire way. After taking a 39-29 lead at the intermission, Catawba (1-2) grabbed their largest lead of the game at the 17:28 mark of the second half, 48-32 after a layup by Jeremy McLaughlin.

Both teams were struggling offensively until back to back three pointers (JaDon Davis and Rahdin Hughes) and a jumper by Tylen Walker with 2:25 to go pulled the Rams within five, 69-64. After a Morrison free throw, Hughes connected on a layup to cut the lead to four, 70-66, with 1:49 to play.

While the Indians did not hit a shot from the field for nearly six minutes, the Rams were not able to capitalize as they committed a turnover and came up empty on their next three possessions.

Catawba was +14 in rebounds on the evening and outscored ASU in the paint 36-26.

Hughes and Davis paced the Golden Rams with 20 and 17 points respectively and accounted for all of ASU's three pointers in the game, all of which came in the second half.

Visit www.asugoldenrams.com for more information on Albany State Athletics.