Men's Basketball | 12/31/2017 2:13:00 PM

Braves Begin Conference Action at PVAMU, TSU

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HOUSTON – To kick-off the 2017-18 conference slate, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program will travel to Prairie View A&M at 5 p.m. Monday at the William J. Nicks Building and Texas Southern at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at H&PE Arena.
 
The Braves completed non-conference play with a 4-9 record. They posted wins over Concordia 103-56, Rust College 89-50, Fisk University 77-69 and Blue Mountain 83-56.
 
Alcorn was guided by senior guard A.J. Mosby who ranks 21st in the country in assist:turnover ratio with a 3.27 mark. He also ranks third in the SWAC in both assists (3.8 apg) and field goal percentage (.528).
 
Mosby, who averages 13.2 points per game, is Alcorn's leader in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. He's shooting .833 from the free throw line. Mosby has tallied 9 double-figure scoring games in his last 10 outings.
 
Junior Dante Sterling averages 10.2 points per game and has made at least one three-pointer in every game this season. He's reached double-digits in scoring in four of the last five games. Sterling netted a career-high 17 points against Rust College.
 
As a team, Alcorn leads the conference in field goal percentage (.422), field goal percentage defense (.452), assists (14.2 apg), assist:turnover ratio (1.0), defensive rebounds (24.4 drpg) and three-pointers made per game (8.2).
 
Alcorn has been without two huge contributors due to injury, including both the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year Reginal Johnson and Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year Yalen Reed.
 
PVAMU (3-11) notched a couple marquee victories in November including an 80-70 win over Eastern Kentucky and a 71-56 win over Georgia State. The Panthers also defeated Jarvis Christian 110-80 on Friday.
 
The Panthers are led by a pair of explosive scorers in Zachary Hamilton and Gary Blackston. They both rank top-three in the league with 18.6 and 17.4 points per game, respectively. Hamilton shoots .413 (43-104) from three-point range.
 
The Braves and the Panthers split the season series last year with both teams winning at home. Alcorn won 66-55 in the opening weekend but the Panthers came out on top 66-60 in the regular season finale.
 
NOTES
- The Braves are 1-1 in conference openers under head coach Montez Robinson. Alcorn won at PVAMU two years ago 73-70, but fell to Texas Southern last season 67-65 in the last second.
 
- Alcorn is 3-1 against PVAMU under Robinson.
 
- The Braves are 4-0 this year when they outrebound their opponent. They are also unbeaten when leading at halftime.
 
- Tragedy struck Alcorn at Tulane when senior Reginal Johnson broke his right leg. Johnson was taken off on a stretcher and transported to a nearby medical facility after an air cast was placed on his leg. Johnson is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
 
- Johnson was named the 2017-18 SWAC Preseason Player of the Year. He surpassed the 1,000-point mark against Yale. Johnson is the only Preseason Player of the Year in the country, of all Division I conferences, to not start a game in 2016-17. Johnson led the team in scoring last year with 15.6 points per game and was named to the HBCU All-America Second-Team.
 
- Sophomore Yalen Reed, the SWAC Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year, ranked top-five in the league in blocks before being bothered by pain. He swatted away 10 blocks in 11 games. Reed turned in a career game against Rust where he tallied 20 points and 13 rebounds.
 
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