Braves Fall in Regular Season Finale at PVAMU

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program couldn't find a way to slow down Prairie View A&M in the second half and dropped a 98-64 final Saturday at the William Nicks Building.
 
The Braves (10-20, 6-12 SWAC) already clinched a berth to the SWAC Championships. There were led by senior Reginal Johnson and sophomore Troymain Crosby who each recorded 13 points and six rebounds. Junior Maurice Howard finished with 11 points.
 
The Panthers (19-12, 17-1 SWAC) won the SWAC regular season title outright and were 10-0 at home. Devonte Patterson recorded 32 points and nine rebounds. Taishaun Johnson posted a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.
 
PVAMU forced 22 turnovers which led to a 35-4 edge in points off turnovers. The Panthers also shot 34-for-61 (.557) from the floor in the game.
 
The Braves led 8-4 early after Howard buried a three-pointer at the 16:32 mark. The Panthers scored the next five points to take the lead, and extended it to 19-13 with 12:07 left. Still down 24-19, Johnson drilled a three-pointer and a jumper, and sophomore Jael Scott nailed a mid-range shot to put Alcorn back up 26-24 with 8:11 remaining.
 
The Panthers answered with a 7-0 spurt to go ahead 31-26 with 6:40 to go. PVAMU then used a 6-0 run to push it out to 42-31 at the 2:42 mark. Howard scored on a last-second drive to the left, but the Braves trailed 47-38 at the break.
 
There were three ties and eight lead changes in the first half.
 
Alcorn started the second half strong, and after a jumper by Howard, senior Khari Jabriel Allen drained three free throws to cut the deficit to 49-45 with 18:02 left.
 
The Panthers came back hot to create separation. An 8-2 run put them up by 10 with 16:02 remaining, and then a pair of long-range shots extended it to 67-49 with 14:01 to go.
 
The Braves could never regain momentum the rest of the way.
 
Alcorn will enter the SWAC Championships as the No. 8 seed and square off with No. 1 PVAMU in a rematch Tuesday in the first round.
 
NOTES
- After four conference seasons, Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson carries a 39-33 SWAC record.
 
- Johnson is up to 1,348 career points. He notched his 70th career double-figure scoring game and 15th this year. He was 5-for-9 from the field.
 
- Howard was 1-of-5 from three but upped his single-season school record to 91 made. He etched his 43rd career double-digit performance and 21st this year.
 
- Crosby reached double-figures for the 27th time in his career and 16th time this season. He shot 9-for-11 from the free throw line; the nine made were a career-high.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"I really thought we were right there, and it was a four-point game early in the second half. From there, the game got out of hand. I thought our guys were competing and they were fighting. It was a 10-point game at the half and we came out and cut it to four. We stopped guarding, but they had guys make shots who don't normally make them. It turned into that type of night, but Prairie View is the number one team in the league for a reason. There's no sense of making excuses about what happened, we've got to be able to play 40 minutes. We're also half of a team right now – we only have four guards and only two of them are 100 percent. Jael has a bad thigh bruise, and Khari is limping out there on one leg. I still think the fight was there tonight."
 
On turnovers
"The points off turnovers is obviously a glaring statistic from this game. We talked to the team last game about turnovers and it's something that's within our control. It wasn't even a full pressure tonight, it was a token pressure. We have to value the ball and get a shot on every possession. It's inexcusable to give up 35 points on turnovers. We have to be better as a team."
 
On the conference tournament
"The good part about our situation right now as we live to play another day. We've got another game, and the next two days will be very important for Jael and Khari to get treatment. There would be nothing sweeter than taking an 'L' from a team and come back and shock everybody with a win on Tuesday. There's nothing stronger than the power in faith and belief. Our guys have to believe they can get it done, and why not come back and do something special Tuesday? My belief hasn't changed from day one, from the very first team meeting, I still believe we can win a championship."
 
#FearTheBrave