JONESBORO, Ark. (11/25/12) –  Behind Ed Townsel's career-high 27 points, the Arkansas State University men's basketball team captured its fourth consecutive victory with a one-sided 93-53 win over Lamar this Sunday (Nov. 25) afternoon at the ASU Convocation Center in Jonesboro, Ark.

The non-conference triumph improves Arkansas State to 4-1 overall on this season as the Red Wolves won for the second time at home this campaign and extended their present winning string to four straight.  Meanwhile, Lamar falls to 1-5 overall for the 2012-13 season.

Townsel celebrated his birthday in grand style by leading all scorers with 27 points and also compiled a career game-best seven steals in 33 minutes of action.  The junior guard netted 10 baskets in the contest, which included six from beyond the three-point line. Townsel's previous game best was 20 points set last season on two occasions - against Southeast Missouri State (11/29) and Seattle (12/14).

Besides Townsel, three other Red Wolves cracked the double-figure scoring column as 10 A-State players tallied a mark in the scorebook.  Senior guard Marcus Hooten had a season-high 17 points, freshman guard Raeford “Gator” Worsham totaled 13 off the bench in 19 minutes, and senior forward Brandon Peterson registered his second double-double of this season with 12 points and 13 rebounds.  Junior forward Kendrick Washington and freshman guard Cameron Golden each grabbed six boards while Worsham pulled down five caroms in the 40-point decision.

Despite the decisive ASU win, the Red Wolves still have room for improvement.

“For us to be the type of team we want to be, we have to play better,” said ASU head coach John Brady.  “I'm one of those guys that looks at the tape, and I will find some things before our practice that we didn't do so well. We will show them some positives things, but at the same time we will show them things they need to do better.  I think you always need to concentrate on what you can do to be better individually, so you can make the team better as a whole.”

The Red Wolves led 33-21 at the half and proceeded to outscore the Cardinals by a 28-points margin (60-32) in the second 20 minutes of action.  ASU started the second half by going on a 19-2 run to increase its lead to 29 points at 52-23 on an Ed Townsel layup with 13:52 remaining in the game.  The Red Wolves would maintain their sizeable cushion for the remainder as A-State bumped its lead up to as many as 41 points (93-52) with less than half a minute to go thanks to a 17-7 scoring spurt over a four-minute span.

For Lamar, Stan Brown was the lone Cardinal player to notch double digits in scoring with 10 points.

On the afternoon, A-State finished shooting 47 percent from the floor and connected on 55 percent (11-for-20) in three-point field goal attempts.   The Red Wolves put the clamps on Lamar defensively, limiting the Cardinals to 37 percent from the field and just 17 percent from long distance. 

A-State controlled the glass with a 49-26 rebound advantage and also capitialized on Lamar's 18 turnovers in the game by tallying 28 points off of the Cardinals' miscues. 

ASU's Ed Townsel, who made his first start of this season, also performed well on the defensive end by garnering a career single-game high seven steals to eclipse his previous best of six set against Lyon College in the 2010-11 season (12/6/10) and the 2011-12 campaign (12/19/11).

The victory over Lamar marked the second time in which the Red Wolves have defeated the Cardinals on ASU's home floor after claiming a 78-75 win in the 2010-11 season.  The A-State win also avenged a 65-62 season-opening loss at Lamar a season ago (11/11) in Beaumont, Texas.

The last time A-State started out a season winning four of its initial five encounters was in 2008-09 when the Red Wolves won six straight after dropping their season opener.

Arkansas State will seek its fifth consecutive win this Thursday (Nov. 29) as the Red Wolves open Sun Belt Conference (SBC) action in the Sunshine State versus the FIU Panthers.  Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. (EST) at FIU's U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami, Fla.   

A-State Notes: Ed Townsel's six three-point field goals against Lamar is a career best, surpassing his five three-pointers versus ULM last season (2/12/12) ...  The Red Wolves' bench has outscored the opposition in four of their five games this season to date, which included a plus six advantage (25-19) vs. Lamar ... Brandon Peterson recorded his second double-double (12 pts. and 13 rebs.) of this season and his 13 boards were two shy of matching his career game-high 15 caroms against Arkansas-Monticello (11/13) ... The 4-1 start is ASU's best since 2008-09 when the Red Wolves began the season going 6-1 en route to a 13-17 overall record in Coach John Brady's first year at ASU ... Marcus Hooten's 17 points represents a season high, bettering his nine points output at Tennessee-Martin (11/16) ... Ed Townsel is three steals away from reaching the century mark and is averaging 1.4 steals per contest in 71 career appearances.