TSU Climbs Closer to #2 Seed; MVSU Remains Perfect
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Texas Southern 67, Alabama State 59
HOUSTON -- Omar Strong scored 21 points and Texas Southern held on to top Alabama State 67-59 on Saturday.
Texas Southern (11-16, 10-5 Southwestern Conference), which led 31-19 at the half and 36-21 at the second half's 18:23 mark, saw Alabama State (10-17, 7-8) cut the lead to 39-35 with 11:28 remaining. The Tigers answered with a 9-2 run to regain control.
Alabama State shot 0 of 18 from 3-pointers in the game.
It took nearly seven minutes for Texas Sourthern to assert itself, but when it did, there was little doubt as to who the front-runner was. Following a 5-all tie with 13:41 remaining in the first half, Texas Southern scored 10 unanswered points.
Fred Sturdivant scored 14 points for the Tigers, who turned the ball over 27 times yet still managed to win comfortably.
Tramaine Butler led Alabama State with 18 points.
Mississippi Valley State 79, Grambling 60
GRAMBLING, La. -- Terrence Joyner led four Mississippi Valley State players in double figures with 20 points and the Delta Devils defeated Grambling State 79-60 on Saturday night to stay unbeaten in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.
Cor-J Cox added 14 points, Brent Arrington 13 and Paul Crosby 11 for MVSU (16-11, 15-0). Kevin Burwell added 11 assists and five steals for the Delta Devils.
The Delta Devils shot slightly better than the Tigers, 41.2 percent (28 of 68) to 40.5 percent (17 of 42) but MVSU turned it over 12 fewer times.
MVSU scored 24 points off 23 Grambling State turnovers. The Delta Devils also outscored the Tigers 30-12 in the paint.
The Delta Devils shot 50 percent in the second half (16 of 32) and outscored Grambling State 47-32 after halftime.
The Tigers were led by Quincy Roberts with 28 points, going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line.
Prairie View A&M 60, Alabama A&M 52
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- Louis Munks scored 14 points, including a 3-pointer that kicked off a game-ending 13-0 run, as Prairie View A&M defeated Alabama A&M 60-52 Saturday.
The Panthers (12-16, 8-7 SWAC) overcame an early 24-8 deficit, and trailed 52-49 before Munks' 3-pointer tied it with 3:53 to play. Munks made a pair of free throws with 3:10 left to put Prairie View ahead for the first time in the game. Baskets by Jourdan Demuynck and Munks, plus a pair of free throws by Demuynck, completed the scoring.
Demuynck finished with 12 points for Prairie View. Mayol Riathin had nine points and nine rebounds.
Brandon Ellis led all scorers with 19 points for Alabama A&M, while Demarquelle Tabb grabbed 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs (6-18, 4-11) missed their last three shots and a pair of free throws to go scoreless down the stretch.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 46, Jackson State 44
JACKSON, Miss. -- Savalace Townsend scored 17 points, including the go-ahead basket with 51 seconds left, to lead Arkansas-Pine Bluff to a 46-44 victory over Jackson State in a Southwestern Athletic Conference game Saturday night.
A layup by Townsend, the league's leading scorer at 16.4 points per game, gave the Golden Lions (8-21, 7-9) a 45-44 lead.
After a Jackson State miss, Townsend was fouled with 12 seconds left, but he missed both attempts. Following a timeout by the Tigers (7-20, 5-10), Keeslee Stewart's shot missed with 2 seconds remaining, and Clay Johnson added a free throw for the Golden Lions.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff shot 58.3 percent (7 of 12) from the field after trailing 27-20 but was hurt by 10-of-24 free-throw shooting in the second half. Jackson State was 26.1 percent (6 of 23) from the field in the second half.
Kelsey Howard led Jackson State with 17 points.
Alcorn State 60, Southern 40
ALCORN STATE, Miss. -- Twann Oakley scored 17 points to lead Alcorn State in a 60-40 win over Southern University on Saturday night, avenging a Jan. 28 loss to the second-place Jaguars of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Kendrick McDonald and Anthony Nieves added 11 points apiece for the Braves (9-19, 6-10), who led by six points at the break but outscored the Jaguars 31-17 in the second half to seal it.
Alcorn State outshot Southern 45.5 percent (20 of 44) to 34.2 percent (13 of 38) from the floor. Both teams hit five 3-pointers, but the Braves got theirs in half as many attempts (seven) as the Jaguars (14).
The Braves forced 12 Jaguars turnovers, nine of those coming from steals.
The Jaguars (15-14, 11-5), who didn't have a single player in double digits, had won two straight games and seven of nine coming in.