Perfection Denied: UAPB Halts Valley Streak at 17
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 78, Mississippi Valley State 67
PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- Daniel Broughton scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff ruined Mississippi Valley State's bid for a perfect Southwestern Athletic Conference record with a 78-67 victory Thursday in both teams' regular-season finale.
Savalace Townsend added 14 points and Mitchell Anderson 13 for the Golden Lions (10-21, 9-9), who snapped MVSU's 17-game winning streak.
The Delta Devils (18-12, 17-1) were 1-11 before conference play started, but only needed to beat Pine Bluff to become the first team since 1979 to finish the SWAC season undefeated. They'll still have the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Garland, Texas.
Cor-J Cox led Mississippi Valley State with 19 points and Amos Studivant had 13.
The Golden Lions never trailed. The Delta Devils pulled within 45-41 on a Kevin Burwell layup with 11:47 left, but Pine Bluff's 18-6 run over the next 8 minutes sealed the win.
Southern 64, Prairie View A&M 63
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Derick Beltran hit four 3-pointers en route to 26 points as Southern University edged Prairie View A&M 64-63 on Thursday night.
Quinton Doggett finished with 14 points and seven blocks for the Jaguars who held the Panthers to just 36.1 percent (13 of 36) shooting in the second half.
Southern led 41-32 with 18:19 left in the second half before Prairie View A&M (13-17, 9-8 Southwestern Athletic Conference) rallied to tie the game 59-all with 3:24 remaining.
But Beltran knocked down a 3-pointer and Jameel Grace made two free throws and the Jaguars (16-14,12-5) held the Panthers to just two points over the game's final 3 minutes to seal the win.
Prairie View held possession with six seconds left but Ryan Gesiakowski's 3-point attempt fell short and Jules Montgomery's put back was too little, too late.
Jimmie Duplessiss led Prairie View A&M with 15 and Montgomery added 14 boards.
Alabama A&M 73, Jackson State 53
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Brandon Ellis scored a career-high 23 points and Alabama A&M cruised to a 73-53 win over Jackson State on Thursday night, splitting the regular-season series and ending a two-game skid.
Ellis was 9 of 14 from the field, hitting 4 of 5 treys, as the Bulldogs (7-19, 5-12 Southwestern Athletic Conference) shot 50.9 percent (29 of 57).
Alabama A&M dominated inside, outrebounding the Tigers 40-27 and outscoring them 40-24 in the paint.
After Jackson State jumped out to a 7-0 lead, the Bulldogs tied it at 10 and then built a 12-point advantage.
Alabama A&M quickly expanded its 36-25 halftime lead to 20, at 45-25, and then maintained a cushion of at least 17 points.
Demarquelle Tabb and Casey Canty scored 15 apiece for the Bulldogs and Green Hill added 13.
Kelsey Howard scored 24 to pace the Tigers (7-22, 5-12), who defeated Alabama A&M 55-52 on Jan. 3.
Alabama State 63, Grambling 61
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Ivory White posted a double-double and led Alabama State with 15 points in a 63-61 win over Grambling State 63-61 Thursday night in Southwestern Athletic Conference action.
Alabama State (11-18, 8-9), leading 47-34 at halftime, won despite scoring 16 points in the second half.
White totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds. Phillip Crawford posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and Tramaine Butler added 13 points and Ryan Watts 11.
The Hornets held a 44-26 rebounding edge.
For Grambling (3-24, 3-14), guards Quincy Roberts and Xavier Rogers scored 26 and 20 points, respectively. Six other Tigers scored, none more than three points.
Down 13 at halftime, Grambling rallied late. Rogers' 3-pointer with 59 seconds left cut it to 63-61. Alabama missed two 1-and-1's in the waning seconds, the second with 8 seconds left. The Hornets, with fouls to give, fouled twice before Roberts' long trey bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Texas Southern 54, Alcorn State 51
ALCORN STATE, Miss. -- Fred Sturdivant grabbed 11 rebounds in 18 minutes to lead Texas Southern over Alcorn State 54-51 in a defensive battle on Thursday night.
The Tigers (13-16, 12-5 Southwestern Athletic Conference) trailed 33-22 at halftime before shutting down Alcorn State.
The Braves shot 53.6 percent in the first half (15 of 28) but were held to just 5 of 27 form the field in the second (18.5 percent). Alcorn State finished shooting 36.4 percent (20 of 55).
Texas Southern also struggled offensively, making 34.6 percent from the floor (18 of 52), but was able to get to the line more. The Tigers made 17 of 28 from the line, while Alcorn State was just 8 of 12.
Texas Southern outrebounded the Braves 39-25.
Anthony Nieves and Twann Oakley led Alcorn State (6-11, 9-20) with 13 points each.
