Braves Blowout MVSU 105-73, Crosby Nets Career-High

ITTA BENA, Miss. – Junior Troymain Crosby poured in a career-high 27 points, and two other Alcorn State University men's basketball student-athletes registered double-doubles in a dominant 105-73 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at the R.W. Harrison Complex.
 
The Braves (7-9, 3-2 SWAC) improved to 147-6 all-time and 4-0 this year when they score at least 100 points in a game. Alcorn scored 100 points against a SWAC opponent for the first time since 2011-12 when it beat Prairie View A&M 103-79.
 
Crosby's 27 points included a career-high 11 made free throws. He also drained eight field goals from the floor.
 
Senior Corey Tillery recorded his first double-double at Alcorn with 18 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Senior Maurice Howard also submitted a double-double of 12 points and a career-high 10 assists.
 
Howard became the sixth student-athlete in school history to dish out 10 assists in a game. The list includes Eddie Archie, Jeff Cammon, Gilbert Thompson, Alleo Frazier and Crosby.
 
Also in double-figures for Alcorn was senior Deshaw Andrews with 18 points and junior Anthony Fairley who matched his career-highs with 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Braves got it done on both ends of the floor. In addition to their big scoring night, they limited MVSU (1-15, 1-3 SWAC) to a .348 (24-69) shooting mark.
 
The Delta Devils were paced by Caleb Hunter's 28 points. Ahmadu Sarnor scored 13 points off the bench.
 
The Braves trailed 4-0 early when three-pointers by Andrews, Tillery and Howard put them up 9-4 at the 16:38 mark. A lay-up by Andrews kept the Braves ahead 17-11 with 12:44 to go.
 
Alcorn led 21-16 when it used a huge 15-0 spurt, which included three more long-range shots to catapult ahead 36-16 with 5:06 left. The run was fast, as it came over a four-minute period.
 
Despite a half-court three at the buzzer by MVSU's Sarnor, the Braves carried a 51-32 advantage into the half.
 
The Delta Devils came out firing early in the second and drilled back-to-back threes to cut it to 51-38 in the first minute. Though, Alcorn scored the next seven points, which included an alley-oop dunk by Crosby to stay in front 58-38 with 17:19 left.
 
The closest MVSU came the rest of the way was a 15-point deficit with 9:42 remaining. Alcorn used a dunk by Fairley and a three by Andrews to pull away 89-63 at the 4:36 mark.
 
Alcorn made it a 30-point game, 101-71, on a lay-up by junior Arne Morris with 1:46 to go.
 
Alcorn will close out the weekend with a 7:30 p.m. game Monday at Arkansas-Pine Bluff at H.O. Clemmons Arena. The Braves are 42-24 all-time against UAPB and 6-2 under head coach Montez Robinson.
 
NOTES
- The Braves entered the game ranked top-10 in the nation in threes made per game (10.3). They were 13-of-31 (.419) in the game.
 
- Alcorn is now 69-38 all-time against MVSU and 8-3 under Robinson.
 
- Robinson is in his fifth season at the helm. He carries a 42-35 SWAC record. Alcorn won its second straight road game.
 
- The Braves have outrebounded every team in conference this year. They outrebounded MVSU 58-35 tonight.
 
- Alcorn outscored MVSU 54-41 in the second half, and has outscored the opposition 661-590 in the second half this year.
 
- Crosby broke his previous career-high of 22 points set two times, most recently against Jackson State last weekend. His previous career-high in free throws made was nine at Prairie View A&M in the 2019 SWAC Championships. Crosby turned in his 38th career double-figure scoring game and sixth 20-plus performance.
 
- Tillery scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three. He scored double-figures for the 12th time this year. His previous career-high in rebounded with eight, set two times.
 
- Howard's double-double was the first of his career. His previous career-high in assists was nine against Savannah State on Nov. 24, 2018. Howard also matched his career-high with seven rebounds. It was his 56th career double-figure scoring game and 12th in a row.
 
- Andrews etched his 23rd career double-figure scoring game and 11th this year. He was 4-for-7 from long range.
 
- Fairley tied his career-highs of 10 points and nine rebounds, both set against Ecclesia on Dec. 20, 2019.
 
- All 10 student-athletes that played for Alcorn scored at least two points and grabbed at least one rebound.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"It started in practice last night where we shot it really well. We shot it so well yesterday that I actually didn't want to come today for shoot-around, and we didn't. Our guys came in focused and were locked-in on the scouting report. We made some shots early, guarded well and got open in transition. Anthony Fairley almost gave us a double-double tonight and that was important for us. Our big guys were banging down low and getting some put-backs. It was a great team-effort across the board."
 
On how they were able to win by such a large margin
"In the first half we only committed five turnovers. We took good care of the ball for the most part against a team with a lot of long bodies. MVSU has a very athletic team with three guards that can score at all three levels. I have to give our guys a lot of credit for locking in and taking away a lot of the things that MVSU wanted to do offensively. MVSU is a scary team, and we did everything we could to get our hands up and contest shots. This was also one of our better rebounding efforts, and that really helped too. We want to win every rebounding battle this year and keep at it. Everyone is helping out on the glass, even the guards."
 
On Troymain Crosby
"He was aggressive, but he picked his spots to attack. When he saw open lanes, he attacked them. When he had wide-open shots, he made them. He also had zero turnovers in the first half and he let the game come to him. He took advantage of the gaps in the lanes and he did a great job of getting to the basket."
 
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