Men's Basketball | 11/29/2016 10:07:00 AM

Braves Head Farther West to Face San Francisco

Alcorn Game Notes

SAN FRANCISCO – Traveling straight from Colorado, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program will play its second of a six-game road stretch Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. (CT) when it takes on San Francisco at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
In Alcorn's (2-3) last outing, it dropped an 80-58 decision to Colorado State. Senior Denzel Dulin poured in a career-high 20 points. It was his second consecutive career-high after scoring 16 against Blue Mountain.
 
Prior to CSU, Alcorn posted back-to-back home wins over Selma 93-48 and Blue Mountain 83-57. The Braves never trailed in either game and won their home opener for the sixth year in a row. Alcorn shot a season-high .558 (29-52) as a team from the field against BMC.
 
Senior Marquis Vance leads Alcorn in both scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) where he's also top-10 in the SWAC in both categories. He surpassed 1,000 career points last week against Blue Mountain.
 
San Francisco (4-1) is looking to shake off its first loss of the year 96-90 on the road at Eastern Washington. The Dons opened the season with wins over Illinois-Chicago 82-80, UC Santa Barbara 75-63, Troy 79-67 and Sacramento State 77-59.
 
Senior guard Ronnie Boyce has been tough to stop for USF as he's averaging 23.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He's shooting .553 (42-76) from the field and .457 (16-35) from three-point range.
 
Also averaging in double-figures for the Dons are freshman Jordan Ratinho with 10.8 points and junior Chase Foster with 10.6 points per outing. Freshman Charles Minlend is just below the double-digit cutline with 9.6 points per game. USF has been using primarily a 9-to-10 man rotation with nobody averaging more than 27.0 minutes per game.
 
The game can be watched via online live stream on thew.tv. It is broadcasted by the West Coast Conference at http://www.wccsports.com/thew.tv.
 
NOTES
- The Braves have a 30-day layover between home games. Their next home contest is Thursday, Dec. 22 when they host Rust College at 7 p.m. inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
- Alcorn is looking for its first non-conference win over a Division I school since Nov. 22, 2012 when it defeated Samford 69-65. Prior to that, the Braves beat Jacksonville State 70-68 on Dec. 13, 2003 and UTEP 67-53 on Nov. 26, 2002.
 
- On the season, the Braves lead the SWAC in assists (14.4 apg), assist:turnover ratio (1.0), rebounding margin (+3.8), defensive rebounds (25.4 drpg) and defensive rebounding percentage (.751). They are second in the conference in scoring defense (67.2 ppg), rebounding offense (38.4), blocks (4.2 bpg) and three-pointers made per game (7.0).
 
- Junior Reginal Johnson is coming off four consecutive double-figure scoring games.  He averages 12.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per outing. Johnson ranks second in the SWAC in field goal percentage (.596). He's been used primarily as Alcorn's sixth man so far this year and has grabbed least five rebounds in every game.
 
- In addition to his scoring and rebounding, Vance ranks second in the SWAC in blocks (1.4 bpg) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.471). Vance has scored in double-figures in four out of five games this season and posted a double-double in the season opener at Loyola-Chicago.
 
- Junior Avery Patterson has provided a big spark for Alcorn. After missing the first two games, he came back and scored 14 points in his first two contests back. He's been red-hot from long-distance as he's five-for-eight from beyond-the-arc on the year.
 
- Another hot three-point shooter for the Braves has been freshman Maurice Howard. He's made 8-of-18 attempts which ranks fourth in the SWAC and has also started every game.
 
- The Braves have been playing without starting center senior DeAndre Davis due to a hand injury. Davis finished third in the SWAC in both field goal percentage (.584) and offensive rebounding (2.5 orpg) last season.

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