Braves Stay Hot with 75-65 Triumph over Grambling

LORMAN, Miss. – The sixth consecutive victory for the Alcorn State University men's basketball program came Monday night when the Braves downed Grambling State 75-65 at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
Alcorn (11-11, 8-3 SWAC) was in front for 38 of 40 minutes in the game, but the lead was in single-digits nearly the whole way. The Braves were clinging to a 66-63 lead with 3:39 left when seniors DeAndre Davis and Denzel Dulin both converted inside baskets to help keep them in front. Junior A.J. Mosby buried a three-pointer with 1:06 remaining to put the game away.
 
Junior Reginal Johnson scored a game-high 18 points and went 8-for-12 from the field. Davis, Dulin and Mosby registered 14 points apiece. Mosby went four-for-five from beyond-the-arc and also dished out nine assists which matched his career-high. Senior Marquis Vance grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Alcorn shot a season-high .574 (31-54) from the field. Dulin and Davis were both six-for-nine and Mosby was five-for-seven.
 
GSU (10-14, 5-6 SWAC) was guided by Avery Ugba's 18 points and 12 rebounds. Remond Brown finished with 16 points and four assists, while Ervin Mitchell ended with 15 points. Drake Wilks also scored in double-figures with 10 after making four three-pointers.
 
The Braves scored the first six points of the game which included a pair of inside moves by Davis. Alcorn led 8-2 when the Tigers answered with an 8-2 run to tie it 10-10 at the 14:34 mark.
 
GSU took its first lead of the game 25-23 with 7:56 to go. Alcorn quickly responded with a three-pointer from Johnson from the left corner which sparked a big 11-0 run to go up 34-25 with 4:52 remaining. Dulin and Howard also had jumpers during the streak while Davis drained a pair of free throws.
 
The Tigers ended the half on a 7-2 run, but the Braves carried a 37-33 advantage into the break. Johnson had 14 points at the intermission.
 
Davis started the second half hot after he threw down an alley-oop dunk, and followed it up with a jumper in the paint to put the Braves up 41-34 with 18:50 left. A fast-break bucket by junior Avery Patterson after a steal by Mosby extended the lead to 45-36 with 17:18 remaining. A jumper from the right wing by Johnson increased the edge up to 57-46 with 12:55 to go.
 
GSU punched back with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 57-54 at the 10:28 mark. The Tigers inched closer after a runner through the middle by Chase Cormier made it 59-58 Alcorn with 8:44 left. On the ensuing possession, Mosby swished a three-pointer from the left corner to give the Braves slight breathing room 63-59 with 8:22 remaining.
 
The next three minutes went scoreless, but Ugba converted a lay-up to make it a two-point game with 4:55 to go. Alcorn responded with a three-pointer by Dulin to go up 66-61 at the 4:29 mark. A jumper from the edge in the paint late in the shot clock by Dulin upped the lead to 70-63 with 2:28 left.
 
With just over a minute left, Mosby hit the dagger three-pointer to put Alcorn in front 73-65.
 
The Braves will hit the road next weekend when they travel Saturday to Mississippi Valley State at 4 p.m. and Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn has won six consecutive games for the first time since 2006-07. Head coach Montez Robinson is now 21-8 in the SWAC in two seasons.
 
- The Braves have beaten Grambling in five of the last six meetings.
 
- Alcorn improved to 8-2 at home this season where it has outscored the opposition 767-621.
 
- The Braves entered the game leading the league in assist:turnover ratio and finished with 24 assists and 11 turnovers. The 24 assists matched a season-high set against Selma on Nov. 18.
 
- Alcorn is now 10-1 (7-1 SWAC) this season when leading at half.
 
- Johnson has scored at least 12 points in 20 of the last 21 games. He notched his 39th career double-figure scoring game.
 
- Dulin netted his ninth double-digit scoring game of the season. He's scored at least eight points in nine of 12 conference games. Dulin's six made field goals matched his career-high.
 
- Mosby has tallied eight double-figure scoring games in his last nine outings, and 11 this year. He remained as the only Brave to start every game this year. Mosby entered the game ranked second in the SWAC in assist:turnover ratio and ended with nine assists and two turnovers.
 
- Davis etched his sixth consecutive double-figure scoring game and 17th of his career. Davis entered the game shooting .571 from the field in league games and will see the number go up after shooting six-for-nine.
 
- Alcorn dominated GSU in bench points 25-3.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"Grambling is a very good team. They are physical, have big guys inside and also have great wings. They are relentless inside and get to the free throw line. Those guys can really draw contact, but I thought my guys did a great job of staying up-and-down. I'm content with only allowing Grambling to shoot 18 free throws. As hard as they drive in the paint, that's a good night for us. The free throw line hurt on our end though as we shot 6-for-14. Reginal Johnson got poked in the eye and his eye swelled up in this game but he usually doesn't miss three free throws. His eye is almost shut right now. The good news is that we don't play again until Saturday which gives him time to get treatment."
 
On A.J. Mosby
"He can shoot it deep and he gets it off quick. He hit a big one for us down the stretch after the ball was swung around to him. It was clutch. Though as a team, we have to do a better job of guarding. We could have really put this game away but we didn't get out of the way of ourselves in a few instances. The last few minutes of the first half were horrendous. I say it every game, we need to find consistency and play for 40 minutes."
 
Closing Statement
"Overall this was a great team effort by us. All of our guys played hard and we really spread the ball around; 24 assists is incredible. We made the extra pass tonight. I'm really pleased with how we played."
 
#FearTheBrave