Strong Second Half Not Enough for Alcorn on Opening Night

CHICAGO – Despite outscoring DePaul in the second half, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program got off to a slow start and dropped a 72-54 decision on Tuesday evening at Wintrust Arena.
 
The Braves (0-1) outscored the Blue Demons (1-0) 28-27 in the second half. Though, DePaul opened the game on a 17-0 run and the hole was just too deep for Alcorn to climb out of.
 
Senior Deshaw Andrews scored a team-high 12 points for the Braves, including a six-for-six mark from the free throw line. Junior Troymain Crosby pitched in with nine points, and junior Kobe Wilson pulled down 10 rebounds.
 
The Blue Demons were led by Paul Reed who turned in a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. DePaul shot 19-for-30 (.633) from the field in the first half to build their advantage.
 
Alcorn was cold for most of the night and ended 3-of-24 (.125) from three-point range. Though, the Braves did a good job on the glass as they outrebounded the Blue Demons 43-39, including an 18-8 edge in offensive rebounds.
 
DePaul came out of the gates on fire and drilled a trio of three-pointers to lead 9-0. A pair of jumpers, a lay-up and a dunk increased the lead to 17-0 at the 14:36 mark.
 
Alcorn's first bucket of the year came via a jumper by Crosby with 14:30 remaining. It got Alcorn going, and the Braves used an 11-1 run to get the deficit down to 29-19 after a lay-up by Andrews with 7:32 left.
 
DePaul responded with a 12-2 spurt to push its lead back up to 41-21 with 4:35 to go. A dunk by junior Mark Carter was Alcorn's final field goal of the half as the team trailed 45-26 at the intermission.
 
The Braves went toe-to-toe with the Blue Demons in the second half. Three-pointers by senior Maurice Howard and freshman Dominic Brewton put Alcorn on the board in the second.
 
Alcorn trailed 66-39 when it used a 12-2 spurt to make it a 68-51 game late in the half. The run was a result of strong free throw shooting, as the team went 17-for-21 (.810) from the charity stripe in the game.
 
The Braves will remain on the road Saturday when they travel to UL-Monroe for a 12 p.m. tip. Alcorn's home-opener will be Tuesday, Nov. 12 when it hosts Paul Quinn at 6 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- Tuesday marked just the second-ever meeting between the two teams. The Blue Demons took the first one 90-67 in 2008-09.
 
- Andrews registered the 13th double-figure scoring game of his career. He led the team in scoring on opening night for the second straight year after draining 20 points at Tulsa last season.
 
- Wilson submitted his third career double-digit rebounding performance. He was one rebound shy of his career-high set against Blue Mountain on Dec. 18, 2017.
 
- With six points in the game, Howard is now just 21 points away from reaching the 1,000 career plateau.
 
- The Braves mixed and matched their lineups on opening night. They played 12 student-athletes, and 10 of them scored.
 
- Alcorn's game against DePaul was just the first of another loaded non-conference slate for the program. The Braves will also make trips to UL-Monroe, Memphis, N.C. State, Little Rock, Tulane and Santa Clara.
 
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