ITTA BENA, Miss. – A conference-high in scoring, coupled with a 54.4 percent shooting night from the field earned the Alcorn State University men's basketball program an 88-77 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at the R.W. Harrison Complex.
Alcorn (12-11, 9-3 SWAC) extended its winning-streak to seven games for the first time since 2001-02.
Junior
Reginal Johnson notched another huge outing against MVSU (4-21, 4-8 SWAC) as he poured in 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting. It came after he scored a career-high 28 points in the first match against the Delta Devils this year on Jan. 14.
Also in double-figures for the Braves, senior
Denzel Dulin and junior
A.J. Mosby netted 13 points apiece. Senior
Marquis Vance neared a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and matched his career-high with four blocks.
The Delta Devils saw Marcus Romain score a game-high 30 points as he was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line. Isaac Williams finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Rashaan Surles ended with 11 points.
The Braves scored the first six points of the game after three-pointers by Dulin and Vance. A floater by Mosby kept them up 13-7 at the 13:10 mark.
MVSU called a timeout with 12:01 left after senior
DeAndre Davis scored inside on a well-designed inbounds play to increase the lead to 18-11. Alcorn took its biggest lead of the half 23-13 after a tip-in by freshman
Yalen Reed with 9:30 to go.
The Delta Devils responded with a big 9-0 run to make it a 23-22 game with 7:32 remaining. MVSU tied it 31-31 on a fast-break lay-up at the 3:52 mark.
The Braves regained control after a trio of three-pointers by Johnson put them back in front 46-39 in the final two minutes. MVSU scored on its last possession, but Alcorn led 46-41 at the half.
Alcorn quickly leaped ahead 55-45 early in the second half after a fast-break basket by junior
Avery Patterson and a three-pointer by Vance. The Braves increased the advantage to 65-50 with 11:40 to go after both a long-range shot and fast-break lay-up by Mosby.
A put-back and a tip-in by Reed extended the edge to 69-52 halfway through the period.
The Delta Devils tried to crawl back in it and used the free throw line to get the deficit back down to single-figures, 72-63, after an 8-0 spurt with 6:35 left. MVSU came as close as 74-67 at the five-minute mark but couldn't inch any nearer. The Braves fired back with a 7-0 run which included a three-pointer by Vance to go up 81-67 at the final media timeout.
Alcorn never trailed in the game.
The Braves will wrap-up the weekend Monday when they visit Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m.
NOTES
- Alcorn won at MVSU for the second straight year after pulling out a 93-87 victory in triple overtime last season.
- The Delta Devils entered the game leading the SWAC in three-point percentage (.392), but the Braves held them to a .250 (3-12) clip. Alcorn came in as the league's top-team in three-point field goal percentage defense (.263).
- Braves head coach
Montez Robinson improved his conference record to 22-8 in two seasons.
- Alcorn is now 11-1 this season when leading at half and 6-0 when scoring over 80 points.
- Johnson has scored at least 12 points in 21 of the last 22 games. He's scored at least 20 points four times this year. The two highest scoring games of his career are against MVSU.
- Vance surpassed the 1,200-point mark for his career and is up to 1,203. He tallied his 67th career double-figure scoring game and eighth in his last 10 outings.
- Dulin registered his 10th double-digit scoring game of the year and second in a row. He's scored at least eight points in 10 of 13 conference games.
- Mosby has recorded nine double-figure scoring games in his last 10 outings and 12 this year. He's the only Brave to start in every game this year.
- Freshman
Tyler Carter etched six points which was a conference-high and one shy of his career-best set against Selma.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"The guys played hard and really executed the game plan tonight. Mississippi Valley is a good team that gets out and runs. Though, we handled the pressure well and capitalized on our opportunities."
On Marquis Vance
"He's doing a little bit of everything for us across the board. He hits big, clutch shots when we need them. It's incredible looking at his stats and seeing points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. Though another guy is
Reginal Johnson. He keeps coming off the bench and shoots close to 60 percent from the field. I also have to give it up to
Denzel Dulin and
A.J. Mosby for really controlling everything. I'm pleased about having under 20 turnovers against a team like this. My young guys,
Yalen Reed and
Tyler Carter, were also huge for us off the bench. Tyler made free throws and was really aggressive attacking the press. Yalen had a pair of blocks and grabbed some big rebounds. It was a great team effort."
On making 12 three-pointers
"We are a good shooting team. Our guys are able to get their feet set and knock down big shots when we need them. I've said all along that we can really shoot the ball. The way we move the ball and pass it we should be able to get some open looks, and we just have to knock them down. I wish we would have shot it a little bit better from the free throw line but I'm happy with how we are shooting."
On the difference between tonight and the first meeting against MVSU
"Last time they shot 8-of-14 from three, over 50 percent. This time we clamped down defensively and only gave up three threes on 12 attempts. We ran them off the three-point line. MVSU has some great players and we just tried to make it as hard on them as we could."
On UAPB up next
"It's going to be a dog fight. Those guys are athletic and they're long. They play a lot of zone and we're going to have to be aggressive and shoot the ball well to beat them. They're a good team and we're going to go tomorrow and watch film on our game and their game and prepare for Monday.
#FearTheBrave
