MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama State broke open a tied game with a 10-0 run early in the second half and the Alcorn State University men's basketball program was unable to make a late push Saturday in a 74-59 final at Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
Alcorn (6-13, 2-5 SWAC) trailed 36-32 at half when it scored the first six points of the second to lead Alabama State (7-10, 5-1 SWAC) 38-36. However, with the score tied 41-41, the Hornets went on the decision 10-0 run to leap in front 51-41 with 13:16 left and the Braves couldn't get the momentum back.
Sophomore
Troymain Crosby, the reigning SWAC Player of the Week winner, paced the Alcorn offense with 18 points. Senior
Reginal Johnson and junior
Maurice Howard aided the attack with 12 points apiece.
It was a cold night shooting for the Braves who shot just 5-of-22 (.227) from three-point range.
The Hornets were guided by Reginald Gee who finished with a game-high 20 points. Tobi Ewuosho recorded 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
A quick start to the game for both teams saw the Braves leading 12-10 after a three-pointer by Howard at the 18:07 mark. A lay-up by junior
Alonzo Campbell made it 16-12 with 13:47 to go.
Alcorn was ahead 21-20 when ASU answered with a big 12-0 run to catapult ahead 32-21 with 3:57 remaining. The Braves ended the half on a 9-0 run, which included a jumper by Crosby with 26 seconds left to get the deficit down to 36-32 at the intermission.
The 9-0 run turned into a 15-0 spurt as the Braves opened the second half with a three-pointer by Johnson and free throws by Crosby and junior
Devon Brewer. Alcorn led 38-36 with 18:23 left, but ASU's Jacoby Ross hit a three-pointer to put the Hornets back in front.
During ASU's 10-0 run that gave it a 10-point lead, the Braves missed a trio of three-pointers and turned it over three times.
The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way, but Alcorn couldn't get within eight points. The Hornets built a 15-point lead in the final minutes.
The game featured six ties and seven lead changes.
The Braves will be back at it Monday when they head to Alabama A&M at 7 p.m. for a game at T.M. Elmore Gym. Alcorn is a perfect 6-0 against the Bulldogs under head coach
Montez Robinson who is in his fourth season.
NOTES
- Alcorn is now 4-3 all-time under Robinson, who has a 35-26 SWAC record.
- The Braves shot a season-high .941 (16-17) from the free throw line. Howard was seven-for-seven, and Crosby six-for-six. Howard is .955 (21-22) from the line this year.
- Crosby has scored at least 15 points in each of the last four games. He registered his 20th career double-figure scoring game and ninth this year. Crosby secured at least five rebounds for the seventh time this season.
- Howard logged 40 minutes for the fourth time in his career and third time this year. His seven made free throws were a career-high. It was his 34th career double-figure scoring game and 12th this year. Howard entered the game ranked third in the SWAC in assists (3.7 apg) and dished out five.
- Johnson is up to 1,214 career points. He tallied his 64th career double-figure scoring game and ninth this year.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
On the difference between the first and second halves
"We were getting the same shots that we were earlier, we just weren't knocking them down. We had some wide-open shots that just didn't fall. Though, at the end of the day, we didn't do a good job of capitalizing on Alabama State's mistakes. They capitalized on ours, but we didn't play a bad basketball game especially when looking at the turnovers. We were a little undermanned at the guard position with
Jael Scott not being here tonight, and so we tried to play big with our post players. It was a chess match and Alabama State did a great job of pressing us."
On what difference Scott would have made
"He's a guy that plays about 23 minutes a game. Not having him forced other guys to play more than what they had been. We went deeper into the bench, and at one point we had four forwards out there at the same time. Maurice played 40 minutes tonight, and the rotation was different. No excuses though, the guys have to step up and make plays. I thought the game would have been a lot closer with Jael, but he has the flu. We were still right there though, but there was a lid on the basket in the second half. Our guys didn't have the legs down the stretch and we didn't score the ball like we needed to. We were getting stops, but couldn't make shots."
Closing thoughts
"We were shooting it well from the free throw line, and we were right there for most of this game. We rebounded the ball, but Alabama State did a good job in transition. They shot a high percentage because they were forcing live-ball turnovers that led to lay-ups. If we're going to turn it over, it's almost better to throw it out of bounds so at least we could set up the defense. We shot ourselves in the foot tonight, but we played a good team. Alabama State is second in the league for a reason, and we'll see them again back at home. We have to take care of business when they come play us."
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