LORMAN, Miss. – Junior
Troymain Crosby scored the go-ahead bucket with under a minute left, and the Alcorn State University men's basketball program made a stop in the closing seconds to defeat Alabama A&M 59-58 on Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
It extended the winning-streak to four games.
In what was a defensive battle, Alcorn (9-9, 5-2 SWAC) trailed AAMU (5-12, 2-4 SWAC) for nearly 30 minutes in the game, including a 10-point deficit in the second half. The Braves were down by one with under a minute left when Crosby grabbed inside position underneath the basket and converted the lay-up with 54 seconds remaining.
The Braves made a pair of defensive stands down the stretch. Junior
Kobe Wilson blocked a shot with 42 seconds left, and then after the Bulldogs made a stop, they launched a deep, contested three-pointer with one second remaining that was off the mark.
Senior
Maurice Howard led the offense with a game-high 19 points. He was one of two Braves in double-figures along with Crosby's 10 points. Junior
Kobe Wilson secured eight rebounds and blocked four shots.
The SWAC Player of the Week, senior
Deshaw Andrews, ended with eight points and four rebounds.
Alcorn was able to overcome a cold shooting night for the victory. The team averages 10 three-pointers made per game on the season, the seventh-most in the nation, but was just 5-of-15 from long range. However, the defense limited the Bulldogs to a 4-of-18 mark (.222) from long distance.
The Braves were 12-of-13 (.923) from the free throw line including 7-for-7 in the second half. Howard was a perfect 4-for-4.
AAMU was led by Cameron Tucker's 13 points. Garrett Hicks scored 12, and EJ Williams finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Alcorn started slow and the Bulldogs took advantage with an early 9-4 lead. Still trailing 11-7, senior
Corey Tillery drilled a three and junior
Anthony Fairley hit a lay-up inside to put the team ahead 12-11 at the 11:42 mark.
With the score tied at 16, the Bulldogs took a slight advantage 19-6 on an old-fashion three-point play by Jalen Johnson. AAMU's biggest lead of the half, 29-23, came on a field goal by Brandon Houston at the 1:36 mark. Howard drained a pair of free throws, but Alcorn trailed 29-25 at the intermission.
The Braves couldn't get it going yet early in the second half, and a three-pointer by Hicks extended AAMU's advantage to 39-29 with 17:16 to go. Still down 42-34, Howard made both a floater in the paint and a quick three-pointer to cut it to 42-39 with 13:57 left.
Alcorn took its first lead of the half 49-48 on a three-pointer by Wilson – his first of the year – with 7:45 remaining. A pair of free throws by Tillery pushed it up to 57-54 at the 4:05 mark.
AAMU responded with a lay-up by Williams and a jumper by Hicks to regain a 58-57 edge with 1:45 remaining. The Braves went back ahead 59-58 after second-chance bucket was scored by Crosby, after an offensive rebound by Wilson.
After Alcorn got a stop defensively, it led by one with the ball when a three-pointer was missed with 14 seconds left. The Bulldogs grabbed the rebound and raced down the floor for a last-second three that was too strong by Tucker off the back rim.
The Braves will remain at home Monday when they host Alabama State at 7:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. Alcorn is 5-3 against ASU under head coach
Montez Robinson.
NOTES
- The Braves improved to 24-20 all-time against AAMU, and 8-1 under Robinson.
- Alcorn has now won eight of the last nine, and 12 of the last 14 home games at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. The Braves have outscored the opposition 644-451 at home this year.
- The Braves have been a second half team all season. They've now outscored the opposition 740-648 in the second frame.
- The rebounding battle was tied 38-38. Alcorn has not been outrebounded by a conference opponent this year.
- Alcorn matched its season-high free throw percentage of .923. The Braves did it previously at Texas Southern with a 24-of-26 mark. Alcorn also tied its season-high in blocks with six.
- Howard entered the game ranked 11th in the nation in three-point percentage (.449) and was 1-of-2 in the game. He posted his 58th career double-figure scoring game and 14 in a row.
- Crosby notched his 39th career double-digit scoring performance and 12th this season. He was 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
- Robinson, who is in his fifth season at the helm, carries a 44-35 SWAC record.
- It was the first time Alcorn won a game scoring under 60 points since 2013-14 when it beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 57-54. However, all wins from that season were vacated by the NCAA. Prior to that, the Braves beat Grambling State 57-55 in 2011-12.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
On whether it was the defense that won the game
"Most definitely. That's something we've been talking about – we've been hot offensively as of late but we knew that there could be nights where we aren't shooting it as well. We didn't do a terrible job offensively tonight, but Alabama A&M did a great job of taking away our first and second options. We had to work a little bit harder to score, but we knew we had to get stops. We were playing a team that wanted to milk the clock down every possession, and we had to stay down and guard them. We gave up too many straight line drives and offensive rebounds, and they actually took more shots than us. We buckled down in the last five or six minutes."
On Kobe Wilson's first three-pointer of the season coming at a timely point of the game
"It was huge. If he doesn't hit that three, then we're still losing by two and it was also a momentum shifter. It was big and it gave him a lot of confidence. He just has to continue to work, and he did a great job of rebounding the ball. I was pleased with how he defended."
On how he decides who to play in the low-post
"It's by committee, and whoever is playing well that night is going to play. We were trying to get Alonzo [Campbell] involved but he got in early foul trouble. That's happened to him a few times this year where he'll pick up two really quick fouls back-to-back, and that forced us to play smaller. I thought
Anthony Fairley came in and played well, and he had a huge block in this game. He was active down low, defended their big guy and had some deflections.
Mark Carter came in and did the same. That's what we have to have from those guys is a group effort."
On whether the three-point shot just wasn't falling or whether it was AAMU's defense
"Well, the shot wasn't falling. I thought there were a few times where we missed the wide-open shooter especially in transition which would have gotten us a couple more looks. Though, you have to be able to sometimes win games when you don't take or don't make a lot of three-pointers. A lot of teams actually would be happy with shooting 33 percent from three, but for us that's a bad night. It wasn't just from three-point range though. We had a lot of chippies close to the basket that we didn't make either. We'll have nights like that sometimes but I'm pleased we were still able to find a way to win"
#FearTheBrave
