ATLANTA – With 33 of its 50 points coming from off the bench, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program dropped a 74-50 decision to Georgia Tech on Sunday at McCamish Pavilion.
Alcorn (2-7) outscored Georgia Tech (6-3) in bench points 33-28.
Of Alcorn's 17 points scored by starters, a career-best 16 was registered by junior
A.J. Mosby which was also a game-high. Mosby was hot from long-range as he buried four-of-five three-point attempts. He also dished out three of Alcorn's seven assists in the affair. Mosby played 32 minutes which was also a career-high.
Junior
Reginal Johnson propelled the team's bench production with 15 points and five rebounds. Six of the seven student-athletes that came in off the bench scored in the contest.
The Yellow Jackets saw Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson score 14 points apiece. Ben Lammers finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds. Quinton Stephens neared a double-double with 11 points and eight boards.
Georgia Tech jumped out to a quick 16-6 lead in the first half to take control early. The Braves trailed 22-14 after a jumper by Mosby at the 8:38 mark, but the Yellow Jackets responded with an 8-0 run to extend their edge up to 30-14.
Back-to-back three-pointers by freshman
Maurice Howard and Mosby got the deficit down to 34-22 with 2:56 remaining, but Georgia Tech pushed its lead back up to 39-22 on a three-pointer on its final possession of the half.
Georgia Tech started the second half fast after a pair of free throws by Okogie made it 51-26 with 16:14 to go. The Braves battled the whole way and a jumper by Johnson changed the score to 60-42 at the 8:12 mark. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 14-4 spurt to pull away 74-46 with 2:23 remaining.
The Braves will complete their six-game road trip Tuesday when they fly to Grand Canyon (6-5) for an 8 p.m. (CT) tip at GCU Arena. The Lopes are coming off a 72-62 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday.
NOTES
- Alcorn has a 30-day layover between home games. It will return to the Davey L. Whitney Complex at 2 p.m. on Thursday to host Rust College. Senior
Marquis Vance will be honored before the game as the newest member the program's 1,000-point club.
- Mosby upped his previous career-high of 14 points set against Selma on Nov. 18. His four three-pointers doubled his previous best of two set at Cal on Dec. 3. The Cartersville, Georgia native posted his second double-figure scoring game of the year.
- Johnson continued his big road trip as he tallied his eighth consecutive double-digit scoring game and 27th of his career. He's scored at least 14 points during every game of the road stretch. Johnson also continued his streak of grabbing at least five rebounds in every game this year.
- Johnson entered the game ranked top-five in both field goal percentage (.536) and offensive rebounds (2.6). He shot .600 (6-10) from the field in the contest and pulled down a trio of offensive rebounds.
- As a team, the Braves entered the game leading the conference in blocks (4.1 bpg) and swatted away six. Vance recorded two of those off the bench and secured a team-high six rebounds.
- The Braves featured a new starting lineup of Mosby, junior
Avery Patterson and freshmen
Tyler Carter,
Devon Brewer and
Yalen Reed. It was Alcorn's fourth different starting lineup this season.
- Alcorn played its seventh 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.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"We just started off really slow. It was like we were in quicksand. We couldn't get anything going and were moving slow to the ball. Conversely, Georgia Tech got out to an early start and we just could never recover. We didn't come up with a lot of the 50-50 balls that we needed and we allowed Georgia Tech to get too many second chances."
On trying to get more looks inside
"We were trying to be aggressive and our guys were trying to attack the basket. We wanted to go right at their chests, and we just have to keep fighting. This is another game where we have to continue to grow up and learn from our mistakes."
On Reginal Johnson
"He had a slow first half but we told him at the half that we needed him to get it going. He responded well and really stepped it up in the second half. All 15 of his points and four of his five rebounds came in the second half."
On A.J. Mosby
"I'm proud of him. He's played through his shooting-woes and had a great shooting night. At one point this season he didn't even want to take shots anymore, but I'm glad he came out and took shots today. He played more aggressive and more physical than he had been playing."
Closing Statement
"It seems like every game we have one or two guys who are really starting to get going, but I'm trying to get four or five. We have to find the consistency. I'm still waiting for the game where we have four or five guys stepping up, making plays and playing the way that I know we can play."
#FearTheBrave
