From SWAC.org:
Tonight’s Scores:
Texas Southern 87, Alcorn State 70
Alabama State 73, Grambling State 54
Prairie View A&M 82, Southern 73
Jackson State 54, Alabama A&M 51 (OT)
UAPB 64, Mississippi Valley State 52
TSU cruises past Alcorn State in SWAC opener
LORMAN, Miss. – The Tigers of Texas Southern University opened Southwestern Athletic Conference play Saturday with an 87-70 win at Alcorn State.
John Jones scored 17 points and Trayvon Reed posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers (6-8).
Maurice Howard scored a game-high 18 points to lead Alcorn State (4-9, 0-1 SWAC).
The hot-shooting Tigers shot better than 50 percent from the floor in both halves, finishing the game by shooting 55 percent (33 of 60). TSU shot 52 percent (12 of 23) from 3-point range.
The Tigers slowly built a 10-point lead throughout the first half, and then used a 13-3 run between 6:15 and 2:16 marks of the half to establish 41-21 lead.
After Alcorn closed the gap at the end of the first half, a 16-4 run to open the second period stretched TSU’s lead to 59-36 with 15:16 remaining in the game.
Devocio Butler scored 15 points for the Tigers, while Jeremy Combs chipped in 14 points for TSU. Jalyn Patterson recorded 12 points and nine assists for the Tigers.
– TSU Sports Information
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Hornets pull away from Grambling down the stretch
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – AJ Farrar and Reginald Gee each posted double-doubles and paced four players in double figures as Alabama State pulled away from Grambling State 74-53 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) opener for both teams at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
Farrar scored 14 of his career-high 18 points in the first half for Alabama State (3-9, 1-0 SWAC) to help the Hornets build a 15-point first half advantage, and hold a 41-31 lead at the break. He finished with his second career double-double by grabbing 12 rebounds – another career high – while shooting 8-of-11 from the floor.
Meanwhile, Gee finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season and with 8:37 remaining in the contest scored his 900th career point in two-plus seasons.
Jacoby Ross added 13 and Ed Jones 10 in the win for Alabama State, who finished the night shooting 42.9 (27-of-63) percent from the floor and 44.0 (11-of-25) percent from beyond the arc. The Hornets hit a season-high in three-pointers in the win, including three consecutive trips in the first half three-pointers to pull away from the Tigers.
Alabama State held Grambling State to just 32.1 (18-of-56) percent shooting from the floor and 29.4 (5-of-17) percent from beyond the arc, while shooting 63.2 (12-of-19) percent shooting from the free throw line. The Hornets outrebounded Grambling State 49-35 and forced 15 Tigers’ turnovers.
The Hornets outscored Grambling State (6-8, 0-1 SWAC), the defending regular season champions, 29-21 off the bench, and held the Tigers to just two players in double figures – Dallas Polk-Hillard (14) and Ivy Smith (12).
– Alabama State Athletic Strategic Communications
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Blackston’s double-double leads PVAMU past Southern
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Prairie View A&M men’s basketball team defeated Southern University 82-73 Saturday at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
The Panthers came out strong in the first half and held a 9-3 lead with 14:31 left in the period. The teams tied at 11-11, then again at 13-13 before PVAMU took a 16-13 lead off of a made three-pointer from redshirt senior guard Dennis Jones.
Prairie View led for the rest of the half, with their largest lead at 16 during the closing minutes as they lead 41-25. Senior forward Iwin Ellis led the team with nine points going into half.
PVAMU opened the second half with a steal by junior guard Gerard Andrus, which led to a fast break layup by junior forward Devonte Patterson to lengthen the lead 43-25. The Panthers continued to keep a sizable lead throughout the period, despite Southern’s run in the closing minutes of the game.
The Panthers eventually took the match-up 82-73.
Senior guard Gary Blackston led the team with 16 points, and 11 rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Chancellor Ellis followed behind with 13 points. Jones and Patterson contributed with 11 points apiece.
Jayden Saddler and Sidney Umude each scored 17 points for Southern. Richard Lee added 11.
– PVAMU Athletics Communications
QUICK HITS:
- Martaveous McKnight scored 25 points along with six rebounds and five assists to lead UAPB (4-10, 1-0) to a 64-52 win over Mississippi Valley State (2-13, 0-1) during each team’s SWAC opener. Charles Jackson added 11 points, and Terrance Baynard scored 10 to aid the Golden Lions’ winning effort.
- MVSU’s Gregory Jones-Rollins and Aleksa Koracin scored 12 points each.
- Chris Howell scored four of his team-high 17 points in overtime as Jackson State defeated Alabama A&M 54-51. JSU improves to 4-10 and 1-0 in SWAC play and AAMU falls to 1-14 and 0-1 in the SWAC. Junior Venjie Wallis dropped 11 points and converted a pair of important free throws in the overtime period.
