Tramaine Butler scored 21 points Thursday night and Alabama State continued its late-season surge with an 81-61 victory over Alabama A&M in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.
The Hornets (15-17), who have won nine of their past 10 games, also got 16 points from Kenderek Washington, 13 from Tremayne Moorer and 12 from Chris Duncan.
Fourth-seeded Alabama State next faces top seed Texas Southern in the semifinals on Friday.
Cornelius Hester had 14 points for Alabama A&M (13-15), which closed its season with losses in four of its last five games. DeMarquelle Tabb and Casey Cantey added 10 points each.
Alabama State had a strong shooting performance, hitting 47 percent of its shots from the floor while making 5 of 9 3-pointers and 24 of 28 free throws. The Hornets also outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-24.
