Alcorn Ousts AAMU to Win Home Finale 61-55

LORMAN, Miss. – In a game in which the Alcorn State University men's basketball program never trailed, the Braves won their final home contest of the season 61-55 over Alabama A&M on Monday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
The Braves (10-17, 6-9 SWAC) took control midway through the second half when a close game turned into a 10-point lead. Alcorn led 56-46 at the 4:54 mark when the Bulldogs (5-23, 4-10 SWAC) made one last push, but couldn't get the deficit below five points.
 
Junior Maurice Howard netted 16 points and was 5-for-7 from the field and 4-for-5 from beyond-the-arc. He played 31 minutes – below his average – after picking up his fourth foul with 12:37 left.
 
A career-high came from junior Alonzo Campbell as he registered 12 points and six rebounds. He made his first start of conference play. It came after he turned in a solid seven points, nine rebounds and four blocks off the bench Saturday in a 74-69 win over Alabama State.
 
Also in double-figures for the Braves was sophomore Troymain Crosby with 11 points and five rebounds.
 
The Braves dominated the rebounding battle 40-25. It led to 17 second chance points, compared to just seven for AAMU.
 
The Bulldogs were paced by Andre Kennedy's 17 points and eight rebounds. Evan Wiley scored 16 points and Amari Goulbourne 11.
 
The Braves came out firing, and a pair of three-pointers by Howard gave them an early 10-4 edge. A long-range shot by senior Reginal Johnson extended it to 22-15 with 7:59 remaining.
 
AAMU responded with a 6-0 run to trim the deficit to 22-21 at the 5:42 mark. A lay-up by Campbell with 16 seconds gave the Braves a 29-25 advantage heading into the intermission.
 
A three-pointer by Howard put Alcorn up 34-29 early in the second, but the Bulldogs answered with five straight points for the only tie of the game 34-34 at the 17:03 mark.
 
The Braves punched back by reeling off eight consecutive points. It started with a three-pointer by senior Khari Jabriel Allen, and followed with lay-ups by sophomore Jael Scott and junior Kobe Wilson. A lay-up by Campbell changed the score to 44-35 Alcorn with 13:46 remaining.
 
Campbell knocked down a pair of free throws with 7:29 left which put the Braves up 52-42. Alcorn stayed up by 10 after a lay-up by Crosby with 4:54 to go.
 
AAMU made one last comeback attempt by scoring five straight points to cut it to 56-51 at the 2:36 mark, but Campbell converted a lay-up and a free throw to quickly push it back up to 59-51.
 
Alcorn will begin a three-game road spurt Saturday when it heads to Southern for a 5:30 p.m. tip. The Braves won the first meeting this year at home 76-64 as Howard poured in a career-high 27 points on 7-for-11 shooting from three-point range.
 
NOTES
- The Braves finished the season 10-3 at home this year where they outscored the opposition 957-786. They won six of their last seven at home.
 
- Alcorn improved to 7-1 against AAMU under head coach Montez Robinson. In four seasons, Robinson carries a 39-30 SWAC record and was the 2016-17 SWAC Coach of the Year.
 
- The Braves entered the game ranked second in the SWAC in three-point defense (.315), and limited the Bulldogs to a .154 (2-for-13) mark. The two three-pointers allowed were tied for the fewest allowed by Alcorn this season.
 
- Howard posted his 41st career double-figure scoring game and 19th this year. He's now made 84 three-pointers this season which is a school record.
 
- Crosby reached double-figures for the 26th time in his career, 15th time this year and fifth time in the last six games.
 
- Campbell topped his previous career-high of 10 points set against Southern on Feb. 2. It was his second double-figure scoring game. The six rebounds were the second-most in his career, only behind his nine boards Saturday against Alabama State.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"I'm really pleased with the guys and the effort the way they put these two games together here, dominating the rebounding battle two games in a row. That's something that we emphasized, we talked about and preached about. We knew we had to dominate the glass tonight to come out with a victory. I'm just really pleased and happy for us to be able to do that."
 
On Alonzo Campbell getting the start
"He played so well in the Alabama State game with seven points and nine rebounds, we wanted to see if he could put two games together. He did, he came out tonight with 12 and six, that's what's expected of him. I'm just glad down the stretch that he's playing this type of ball and having these types of games because we're going to really need him here as well as Devon."
 
On turnovers and missed free throws
"These are things that are uncharacteristic for us, we are killing ourselves with that sometimes. We probably dropped our free throw percentage down to second or third in the conference because we had two bad games games back-to-back at the free throw line. Johnson probably would've put together another big game with 14 points, but missed five or six free throws which is just going up to the line not focused or rushing. Turnovers – if we would have cut our turnovers in half we would have won easily tonight. When the other team scores on live-ball turnovers like that, it's a recipe for disaster."
 
On keeping Maurice Howard on the bench with four fouls
"The reason why we kept him on the bench so long was because we were able to increase our lead a little bit. If the lead would've gotten any closer I would've had to put him back out there and he would've had to just play with it. He picked up some chippy ones early, but normally he does a good job of not fouling. Jael, Khari and Troymain held it down at the guard spot tonight. For the most part, they did a pretty good job in the second half of not turning over the ball too much."
 
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