Alcorn Falls at Little Rock after Fast Start

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program built an 11-point lead in the first half, but Little Rock made a late first half surge and then pulled away in the second for a 67-50 final on Wednesday at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
The Braves (2-5) led 19-8 after a jumper by senior Corey Tillery at the 7:44 mark in the first half. Though, the Trojans made a big run at the end of the half to go into the locker room leading 30-29.
 
Little Rock (5-3) opened the second half on a 9-0 run and the Braves couldn't catch up the rest of the way. Alcorn was ice cold in the second half and shot 0-for-11 from three-point range.
 
Junior Troymain Crosby turned in a big night with 19 points and nine rebounds. He was one of two Braves in double-figures along with senior Maurice Howard with 13 points.
 
Alcorn knew it had to stop Markquis Nowell from Little Rock to have a chance. Nowell entered the game leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring with 20.2 points per game. He ended with 26 points and played 40 minutes.
 
The Trojans also garnered a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds from Kamani Johnson.
 
The Braves trailed 6-5 early when they used a 9-0 run to jump ahead 14-6. It featured lay-ups by senior Deshaw Andrews and Crosby. A three-pointer by Andrews extended it to 17-8 with 12:58 remaining. Alcorn's largest lead, 19-8, came on Tillery's jumper.
 
The Trojans got back in it with a 5-0 run, and an old-fashion three-point play by Nowell trimmed the deficit to 20-18 with 3:11 to go. A three-pointer by Tillery put Alcorn up 29-25, but Little Rock closed the half on a 5-0 run, which included a three in the closing seconds by Jovan Stulic to take the lead.
 
Little Rock got to the free throw line early in the second half and took advantage of it to increase the advantage to 39-29 with 16:52 remaining. The Braves got the deficit down to seven points a few times, including after a jumper by Crosby made it 46-39 with 8:54 left.
 
Though, the Trojans answered with a big 12-0 spurt to go up 58-39 and put it out of reach.
 
Alcorn's next game won't be for another 12 days as the team takes off for Thanksgiving and then finals next week. The Braves will host Rust College on Monday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- It marked the 12th meeting all-time between the two teams and the first since 2003-04. The Braves have won three times in the all-time series, the last coming in 1991-92.
 
- Alcorn tallied a +3 turnover margin in the contest. It forced 19 turnovers and committed 16.
 
- Crosby netted his 32nd career double-figure scoring game and fifth in the last six games. He matched his season-high in rebounds at nine. He was one rebound shy of his fourth career double-double. Crosby was 6-of-14 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line.
 
- Howard reached double-digits in scoring for the 47th time in his career and for his third game in a row. He's up to 1,030 career points.
 
- With three blocks in the game, senior Devon Brewer has rejected 71 in his career. He's nine away from becoming the ninth player in school history to reach the 80-block plateau.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
On what turned for the Braves as they gave up the lead in the first half
"We had some wide-open looks and some opportunities to stay ahead, but the ball went cold for us. I'll take those guys taking those shots any day of the week, and we just have to knock them down. We stopped executing in the first half and we missed some assignments on defense. Little Rock got some baskets close to the hoop, and their main scorer got-going and was penetrating. Little Rock drew a lot of fouls, and the game changed from there. We've got to do a better job at taking away the opposing team's strengths and executing the game plan."
 
On fouling too much on defense
"It kills us when our big guys get in foul trouble. Little Rock was driving and attacking the rim. There were some 50-50 calls that didn't go our way as our guys were trying their best to stay straight up-and-down. That's what got Little Rock going. They were driving, throwing their bodies around and getting to the free throw line. There were some things that just didn't go our way, but this game was decided because of us and the way we shot the ball. We shot 31 percent. Our best shooters had open looks and we didn't capitalize."
 
On Troymain Crosby
"He was really the one bright spot from tonight. He was attacking and being aggressive. He knocked down some mid-range shots, but he was the only one. When you look at the shooting numbers from everyone else - we won't be able to win with that. We only made five threes tonight and we're averaging nine a game. If we would have been at our average, then that's 12 more points for us and we would have been in it. Though, it didn't happen and we need some of those other guys to make shots for us."
 
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