Alcorn Battles Hard at San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program trailed by just eight points with under eight minutes remaining, but San Francisco was able to hold off a Braves comeback for a 78-65 result Wednesday evening at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
Junior Reginal Johnson led Alcorn (2-4) off the bench with season-highs of 15 points and nine rebounds. Senior Marquis Vance finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, and senior Denzel Dulin also neared a double-double with nine points and seven rebounds.
 
The Braves pulled down 17 offensive rebounds and outscored the Dons (5-1) 16-9 in second chance points. For the game, the teams were even in total rebounds with 42 apiece.
 
Charles Minlend was USF's top scored with 14 points, while Ronnie Boyce scored 13. Also in double-figures were Chase Foster and Mladen Djordjevic with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Alcorn's only lead of the game came early when freshman Maurice Howard drilled a three-pointer to give the Braves a 5-4 edge. USF responded with an 11-2 run to go up 15-7, and pushed the lead up to 30-16 midway through the first half.
 
The Braves trailed 41-27 with 2:56 left when they finished the half strong. An and-one by Johnson, followed by a three-pointer by Howard, a pair of free throws by freshman Devon Brewer and a lay-up by junior A.J. Mosby helped chop the deficit to 44-37 at the intermission.
 
The Dons scored the first seven points of the second half to extend their advantage back up to 51-37. USF was ahead 58-42 when Vance made a pair of lay-ups and junior Avery Patterson got a bucket to make it a 58-48 game with 10:37 to go.
 
A lay-up by Johnson cut the deficit to 60-52 at the 7:59 mark, but the Braves could not get any closer as the Dons scored the next seven points to leap in front 67-52. Alcorn scored the final five points of the contest on a jumper by sophomore Rahamanh Katumbusi and a three-pointer by Patterson.
 
Alcorn will remain in the state of California for a 3 p.m. (CT) game against the Cal Bears on Saturday. It will be its fourth of a six-game road stretch. The Braves are going 30 days in-between home games as they return to the Davey Whitney Complex on Dec. 22 to host Rust College.
 
NOTES
- It marked the first-ever meeting between the Braves and the Dons.
 
- Johnson notched his fifth consecutive double-figure scoring game and 24th of his career. He's pulled down at least five rebounds in every game this season.
 
- Vance tallied his sixth double-digit scoring affair in his last seven games dating back to last year. It was his 55th double-figure scoring game of his career. Vance entered the game ranked eighth in the conference in rebounding with 6.8 per game and was right near par with his seven rebounds.
 
- The Braves entered the game leading the SWAC in defensive rebounds (25.4 drpg) and secured 25 in the contest. They also were second in blocks and swatted away three in the game, one from Dulin, Vance and freshman Yalen Reed.
 
- Howard went two-for-three from beyond-the-arc in the contest to stay hot. He's now 10-for-21 on the season from long range.
 
- The Braves played their fourth consecutive game 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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