SWAC Men’s Basketball Wrap-Up, Tuesday, Jan. 3

Texas Southern 87, Alcorn State 52

Texas Southern beat Alcorn State 87-52 last Tuesday night in the Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Three-point shooting was the calling card for TSU as they shot 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) from downtown, led by Omar Strong who went 4 of 5 for 12 points.

The Tigers (2-11, 1-0) led 43-21 at halftime and never trailed.

Dexter Ellington led TSU with 17 points while Lawrence Johnson-Danner added 13 points.

Alcorn State (3-10, 0-1) was held to 18 of 48 (37.5 percent) shooting and committed 28 turnovers.

Twann Oakley led the Braves with 14 points. All three Alcorn State wins have come at home.

Mississippi Valley 82, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 67

Falando Jones’ 25 points and 12 rebounds led Mississippi Valley to an 82-67 victory over UAPB last Tuesday night in the conference opener. The win snapped a seven game slide.

The Delta Devils (2-11, 1-0) led 37-31 at halftime but saw UAPB dwindle their lead to only two just a minute into the second half. Valley then went on a 12-2 scoring run sparked by Jones’ two 3-point baskets.

The Golden Lions (1-13, 0-1) got no closer than five points and eventually trailed by double digits in the last 6:56.

The difference in the game was beyond the arc. Valley made 12 of 28 three pointers compared to 1 of 9 for UAPB.

Savalace Townsend led the Golden Lions with 21 points.

Jackson State 55, Alabama A&M 52

Jackson State opened conference play last Tuesday night with a 55-52 win over Alabama A&M.

The Tigers (3-10, 1-0) led by eight (49-41) with over four minutes remaining but the Bulldogs (2-8, 0-1) went on a 9-1 scoring run and came within two (52-50) with 23 seconds left.

Jackson State now led by four following two made free throws by Christian Williams, but Demarquelle Tabb’s layup cut it to 54-42 with seven seconds remaining.

After Williams made 1 of 2 free throws, Jeremy Crutcher’s game-tying 3-pointer went begging at the buzzer.

Jeniro Bush led JSU with 21 points and 12 rebounds while Williams finished with 12 points.

Marcus Lee scored 11 points and both Casey Canty and Tabb each had 10 for Alabama A&M.

Alabama State 73, Grambling 62

Alabama State began its title defense on a good note with a 73-62 victory over Grambling State last Tuesday night in the conference opener.

The Hornets (4-9, 1-0) put on a clinic in the second half, shooting 58 percent from the field and led 60-42 with over seven minutes remaining.

Grambling (0-11, 0-1) tried to cut into the 18-point deficit with consecutive threes by Quincy Roberts but got no closer than the final 11-point margin of victory.

Alabama State had four players in double figures led by Jeffery Middlebrooks and Philip Crawford, who each had 14 points.

Roberts led GSU with 33 points.

Southern 73, Prairie View 65

Southern University defeated Prairie View A&M 73-65 in their conference opener last Tuesday night.

The Jaguars (5-9, 1-0) had three players in double figures led by Jameel Grace with 21.

Southern led 41-38 at halftime.

The Jaguars took control with a 23-5 scoring run over an 8:03 span. Grace scored seven points during the run which gave Southern a 64-47 lead at the 9:56 mark.

Ronald Wright led Prairie View (4-10, 0-1) with 14 points and the only player in double figures.

SWAC Men’s Basketball Wrap-up, Thursday, Jan. 5

Alabama State 81, Jackson State 78

Alabama State outlasted Jackson State in triple overtime 81-78 last Thursday night.

Ivory White hit a 3-pointer to give the Hornets a 72-71 lead with 3:49 remaining. A 3-pointer by Jeffery Middlebrooks extended the lead to 77-71.

A Christian Williams 3-pointer and a Willie Readus layup brought the Tigers within a point before Tremaine Butler’s layup gave Alabama State a 79-76 lead with 29 seconds left.

Jackson State answered back with a layup by Middlebrooks, who sealed the win with two clutch free throws.

Williams led all scorers with 31 points including tying the game at 68 after two overtimes. Jeniro Bush added 20 points for Jackson State.

Texas Southern 73, Southern 39

Texas Southern routed Southern University 73-39 last Thursday night improving to 2-0 in SWAC play.

All of Omar Strong’s and Lawrence Johnson-Danner’s field goals were 3-pointers as they each made three of TSU’s six attempts from downtown.

The Tigers led 32-19 at halftime.

Michael Celestin scored 14 points for Southern. Celestin was 4 of 9 from beyond the arc but his teammates shot a combined 1 for 11 from that distance.

The Jaguars shot 29 percent from the field overall.

Grambling 60, Alabama A&M 55

Grambling used steady free throw shooting to hold off Alabama A&M 60-55 last Thursday night, giving them their first win of the season.

Quincy Roberts and company took over down the stretch for the Tigers as they made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to ice the game.

Alabama A&M started the game up 4-0 until Grambling scored 11 straight points and never looked back. The Tigers led 36-28 at halftime.

Casey Canty led the Bulldogs with 24 points.

Prairie View 55, Alcorn State 47

Prairie View survived an Alcorn comeback to win 55-47 last Thursday night in the Baby Dome.

The Panthers rode a 20-2 first half scoring run to a 30-20 halftime lead then increased it to 42-23 with 12:19 to play.

Alcorn answered with a 20-2 run in a nine minute span, cutting the Panther lead to 44-43 with 3:04 left.

Prairie View the scored the next nine points to put the game away.

Montreal Scott scored 18 points and Marcellus Jackson added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Panthers.

Xavian Rimmer led Alcorn State with 14 points.

SWAC Men’s Basketball Wrap-up, Jan. 7

Texas Southern 84, Prairie View 49

Texas Southern routed cross-town rival Prairie View A&M 84-49 Saturday night to remain unbeaten in conference play.

DaQuan Joyner and Madarious Gibbs both scored 13 points off the bench

Dexter Ellington and Omar Strong had 12 points apiece for the Tigers (4-11, 3-0 Southwestern Athletic).

Ryan Gesiakowski scored 14 points and Louis Munks 13 for the Panthers (5-11, 1-2), who shot 34 percent (17 of 50) from the floor. They made just 7 of 26 attempts in the first half en route to trailing 34-19 at the break.

Texas Southern shot 51.9 percent (27 of 52) from the field and scored 31 points off of 19 Prairie View A&M turnovers.

Mississippi Valley 67, Alabama State 60

Mississippi Valley State remained undefeated in SWAC play Saturday with a come-from-behind road victory at Alabama State. Led by Terrence Joyner\’s 17 points, the Delta Devils overcame a 34-31 halftime deficit to defeat the Hornets, who also entered the game without a conference loss.

MVSU took the lead on a Paul Crosby layup with just under 11 minutes to play and built the lead to as many as 11 late in the second half.

Kenderek Washington led Alabama State with 17 points.

Alcorn State 63, Jackson State 60

Ken McDonald scored 17 points to lead Alcorn State over Jackson State 63-60 on Saturday.

Alcorn State (4-11, 1-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) hadn\’t trailed until 2:37 remaining when Derrell Taylor\’s three-point play put Jackson State ahead 57-54. Zavian Rimmer then scored five straight to put the Braves back on top.

After a Jenirro Bush 3 gave the Tigers back the advantage, KeDorian Sullivan made a layup with 19 seconds left to put Alcorn State ahead for good, 61-60.

Bush then missed a layup 10 seconds later and Ken McDonald made two free throws to seal it for the Braves. Alcorn State, which shot 50 percent in the first half (12 of 24), led 34-19 at halftime.

Rimmer finished with 12 points Christian Williams scored all 18 of his points in the second half for Jackson State (3-12, 1-2), and Bush added 14.

Southern 72, Grambling 59

On a night when Southern retired the jersey of former great Bob Love, the Jaguars delivered with a win against their cross-state rival Grambling, 72-59.

Quinton Doggett scored 20 to lead Southern, and Mike Celestin hit five three-pointers coming off the bench to move SU to 2-1 in conference play.

Quincy Roberts led all scorers with 29 for Grambling. The Tigers fell to 1-2 in the SWAC.

Alabama A&M 65, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 62

Casey Canty scored 20 points and Alabama A&M sank five free throws in the final minute to defeat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 65-62 on Saturday night for the Bulldogs\’ first Southwestern Athletic Conference win of the season.

Green Hill added 13 points for the Bulldogs (3-9, 1-2), who snapped an eight-game losing skid. Alabama A&M opened the game on a 25-10 run, thanks to 13 points by Canty, and led Arkansas-Pine Bluff 34-23 at the break.

The Bulldogs held on despite being outscored 39-31 in the second half. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Lions 34-26 and had the edge in bench scoring 28-19.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff forced 13 Alabama A&M turnovers, but scored just 16 points off them.

The Bulldogs notched 17 points off 13 Golden Lions turnovers. Lazabian Jackson scored 20 points and Savalace Townsend 13 for the Golden Lions (1-14, 0-2).

Uba Okereke is a writer for ; Regal Black Mens Magazine The publication focuses on ; African American Community News Politics Sports Health The magazine features a ; Local Online Classifieds & Job Classified Black Business Directory Visit to read about ; SWAC basketball

Uba Okereke is a writer for http://www.regalmag.com, an online magazine dedicated to issues affecting African American men. Visit http://www.regalmag.com/classifieds/ to view Local Online Classifieds & Job Classified Black Business Directory. To read more about SWAC basketball visit http://www.regalmag.com/swac-mens-basketball-wrapup-a-765.html.

Author Bio: Uba Okereke is a writer for ; Regal Black Mens Magazine The publication focuses on ; African American Community News Politics Sports Health The magazine features a ; Local Online Classifieds & Job Classified Black Business Directory Visit to read about ; SWAC basketball

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