Hot Shooting Braves Bury Delta Devils 77-63

ITTA BENA, Miss. – The guard combination of senior A.J. Mosby and sophomore Maurice Howard shot down Mississippi Valley State and propelled the Alcorn State University men's basketball program to a 77-63 victory Saturday at the R.W. Harrison Complex.
 
Mosby poured in a career-high 23 points and was five-for-seven from three-point range. Howard drained 20 points, the second-most in his career, and was six-for-eight from beyond-the-arc.
 
As a team, the Braves (5-13, 1-4 SWAC) were 12-for-19 (.632) from long-range. Mosby and Howard combined to go 11-for-15 (.733).
 
Freshman Troymain Crosby turned in a solid seven points, five rebounds and two steals, while sophomore Tyler Carter dished out a career-high five assists to go along with his five points and six rebounds.
 
MVSU (0-17, 0-4 SWAC) had only one double-figure scorer which was Dante Scott who ended with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Delta Devils were limited to a .386 (22-57) shooting mark from the field and .250 (5-20) from long-range.
 
Alcorn led 6-4 early when Mosby drilled a three-pointer and sophomore Devon Brewer tallied four points to account for a 7-0 run which got the team up 13-4 at the 16:54 mark. Three consecutive three-pointers – a one-man 9-0 run – by Howard upped the lead to 29-11 with 9:28 left.
 
The Delta Devils chipped into the lead and got it down to 12 with under a minute remaining, but the Braves carried a 43-29 edge into the break as Howard nailed a pair of free throws with three seconds left.
 
The Braves were on top 49-37 when they used a 6-0 spurt which included a pair of free throws by Crosby and sophomore Yalen Reed to stay on top 55-37 with 13:47 to go. Alcorn's largest lead of the game 68-46 came on a three-pointer by Crosby at the 6:33 mark.
 
Alcorn will look to win another Monday when it travels to UAPB. The start time was pushed up to 4 p.m. due to the weather. The Braves are seeking their fifth consecutive win over the Golden Lions and have not lost in the series under head coach Montez Robinson.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn's field goal percentage (.550) and three-point percentage (.632) were both season-highs.
 
- The Braves defeated MVSU for the third consecutive game which included knocking them out of the SWAC Championships last season 63-60. It was also Alcorn's third consecutive win in Itta Bena.
 
- Alcorn improved to 5-0 this season when it outrebounds the opposition. The Braves outrebounded the Delta Devils 34-26.
 
- Robinson, who is in his third season, is now 27-14 in SWAC games.
 
- Mosby bested his previous scoring high of 22 points set two times. His nine made field goals and five made three-pointers tied career-highs. Mosby recorded his 30th career double-figure scoring game and 14th this season. It was his third career 20-plus scoring outing.
 
- Howard's 20 points were three shy of his career-best of 23 against Rust College this season. It marked his third consecutive double-digit scoring game, seventh this year and 15th in his career. Howard entered the game ranked top-five in the conference with 2.0 three-pointers made per game.
 
- The Braves entered the game leading the conference in field goal percentage defense (.447) and limited the Delta Devils to a .386 clip.
 
- Alcorn continued to play without SWAC Preseason Player of the Year Reginal Johnson. He broke his leg at Tulane on Nov. 29 and has not played since.
 
Quoting head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"The last few days in practice we'd been focusing on defending. A couple games ago against Jackson State we held them to under 39 percent shooting but we didn't have a good offensive night. We constantly tell the guys that if we hold a team to under 40 percent then we have a good chance to win the ball game. We did that today and we also rebounded the ball. We still gave up too many offensive rebounds but I was pleased with our effort. A.J. really played well and only had two turnovers against a team that really presses. Him and Maurice really shot the ball today, and when those two guys have a good night shooting it opens lanes for everyone else. Overall, I'm just really happy with the effort."
 
On the hot shooting
"Sometimes coaches can overcoach, but in this instance the best thing I could do was just get out of the way and let them shoot. It was a joy watching them shoot, and my biggest concern was keeping the effort up on the defensive end."
 
On two guys scoring the majority of the points
"Well our other guys really fed them. It wasn't just about two guys knocking down shots, but also other guys getting them open. I like having firepower off the bench and that's what Maurice gives us. He can come in as our sixth man and opposing teams have to account for him.
 
Closing Statement
"We knew coming in that this was a must-win for us. We recognized our deficiencies in practice this week and tried to get better at them. I thought our guys really focused on the game plan. We still need to work on taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers. Regardless, it felt really good in the locker room after the game to get this win. We need to have this same effort Monday, and even do better on the rebounding end."
 
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