TSU Secures #2 Seed, MVSU Still Chasing History
Texas Southern 69, Alabama A&M 59
HOUSTON -- Omar Strong hit three 3-pointers and scored 17 points to pace Texas Southern's 69-59 victory over Alabama A&M on Monday night.
Madarious Gibbs added 14 points and five steals for the Tigers (12-16, 11-5), who won for the fifth time in six games and moved into a tie for second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Dexter Ellington scored 12 points, while Daniel King had team highs of seven rebounds and three assists.
Jeremy Crutcher's 13 points and Justin Banks' eight rebounds paced the Bulldogs (6-19, 4-12), who have dropped six of seven.
The Bulldogs' Brandon Ellis tied the game at 32 with 12:45 to play. But Texas Southern countered with a 7-0 run in which Gibbs' two layups sandwiched Strong's 3-pointer. That gave the Tigers control at 39-32.
Texas Southern, which is now 9-1 at home, swept the season series.
Alabama A&M fell to 1-15 on the road.
Mississippi Valley State 78, Jackson State 69
JACKSON, Miss. -- Kevin Burwell scored 30 points to lead Mississippi Valley State over Jackson State 78-69 on Monday night.
Burwell was 11 of 16 from the field, including 7 of 10 from 3-point range.
The Delta Devils (18-11, 17-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) shot 48.3 percent (14 of 29) from behind the arc and 45.6 percent overall from the field (26 of 57).
Paul Crosby added 15 points, William Pugh 13 and Brent Arrington 11 for MVSU, which led 36-28 at halftime.
The Delta Devils need to win one more game, at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 1, to become the first team since 1979 to finish the SWAC season undefeated.
The Tigers (7-21, 5-11) were led by Kelsey Howard with 27 points and Willie Readus with 20. Readus finished 7 of 9 from the field and made all six of his free throws.
Prairie View A&M 62, Alabama State 59
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- Ryan Gesiakowski scored 12 points, all on 3-pointers, as Prairie View edged Alabama State 62-59 on Monday night.
Tim Meadows also scored 12 points and Jourdan DeMuynck had 11 for the Panthers (12-17, 9-7 Southwestern Athletic), who closed the home portion of their schedule. Jules Montgomery grabbed 10 rebounds.
Jeff Middlebrooks scored 17 points and Tramaine Butler 13 for the Hornets (10-18, 7-9).
Prairie View outshot Alabama State 45 percent to 35 percent and held a 39-33 rebounding edge.
The Panthers led by 18 with 15:05 to go and were still ahead 59-50 with 4:48 left before Phillip Crawford's layup, Ivory White's 3-pointer and Butler's basket trimmed it to 59-57 with 2:51 to play.
But the Hornets missed three 3-pointers in the final 16 seconds, and Prairie View hung on.
The game was delayed for 20 minutes because of a scoreboard malfunction with 1:29 left.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 68, Grambling 53
GRAMBLING, La. -- Savalace Townsend scored 19 points and tallied four steals to lead Arkansas-Pine Bluff past Grambling State 68-53 on Monday night, extending the Golden Lions' winning streak to three games and giving the Tigers their eighth-straight loss.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-21, 8-9 Southwest Athletic Conference) avenged a Jan. 28 loss to the Tigers in one of Grambling State's three wins this season.
The Golden Lions led for nearly the entire contest, taking a 35-21 advantage at the break. They outscored the Tigers 33-32 in the second half to seal their seventh win in the last nine games.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff outrebounded Grambling State 31-21.
Quincy Roberts scored 14 points to pace Grambling State (3-23, 3-13), which has lost 11 of its last 12 contests. The Tigers' only win during this current stretch was against the Golden Lions.
