GRAMBLING, La. – Freshman
Dominic Brewton poured in a career-high 23 points, but the Alcorn State University men's basketball program couldn't get over the hump in the second half in an 80-71 final at Grambling State on Monday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
It was a back-and-forth game for the most part, but every time Alcorn (10-12, 6-5 SWAC) came within a few points in the second half, GSU (13-11, 7-4 SWAC) would have an answer to stay in front. It was a two-point game with under five minutes remaining before the Tigers made a decisive push in the end.
Brewton made his first career start in-place of an injured junior
Troymain Crosby who did not play. Brewton made the most of it by shooting 8-of-11 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
Though, Brewton's effort alone wasn't enough as the Braves were unable to overcome another cold night from long range. Alcorn shot just 5-of-26 (.192) from three-point distance.
Senior
Corey Tillery ended with 12 points and five rebounds, and senior
Maurice Howard recorded 10 points and four assists. Junior
Kobe Wilson pulled down nine rebounds.
GSU saw Devante Jackson register a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Cameron Christon neared a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. The Tigers shot 20-of-25 (.800) from the free throw line.
A back-and-forth first half started with the Braves trailing 10-5 after three minutes. Still down 12-9, the Braves used an 8-0 run which included baskets by junior
Anthony Fairley, Howard, Wilson and senior
Deshaw Andrews to grab a 17-12 advantage at the 12:32 mark.
The Tigers punched back with a big 14-0 spurt to reclaim a 26-17 edge with 3:53 remaining as the Braves hit a scoring drought.
Still down 31-22, Alcorn finished the half on a 6-0 run including a jumper in the paint by junior
Arne Morris with 35 seconds left to trail 31-28 at the half.
After GSU went up 42-35 early in the second, the Braves answered with a 7-0 run including five points from Brewton to tie it 42-42 with 15:37 to go. Though, GSU scored the next six points to go back in front 50-44 at the 12:51 mark.
Alcorn kept fighting, and a 6-0 run capped by a jumper by Tillery had the team down just 53-52 with 9:27 left. However, the Tigers responded with six straight points of their own to again stay ahead 59-52 with 7:52 remaining.
Alcorn cut it to a one possession game one last time after a three by Howard changed the score to 63-61 at the 5:54 mark, but every time the Braves got close, the Tigers had an answer. They pulled away in the final two minutes and got the lead up to double-figures with 31 seconds left.
Alcorn concluded its three-game road swing and will return home Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to host Mississippi Valley State. The Braves defeated the Delta Devils 105-73 earlier this year. Alcorn is 69-38 all-time against MVSU and 8-3 under head coach
Montez Robinson.
NOTES
- The Braves dropped to 72-43 all-time against GSU. The two teams split the season series as the Braves beat the Tigers 87-69 at home. Alcorn will have the tiebreaker over GSU based on margin of victory.
- Robinson is now 45-38 in his career against the SWAC. He's in his fifth season.
- Brewton's previous career-high was 15 points against Prairie View A&M on Jan. 4. His eight made field goals and five made free throws were also career-highs.
- Tillery notched his 16th double-figure scoring game of the year and matched his career-high of 39 minutes played.
- Howard turned in his 59th career double-figure scoring game and 15th this year. He's up to 1,255 career points.
- Wilson entered the game averaging 1.0 blocks per outing, top-five in the conference, and swatted away a pair.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
On Troymain Crosby and Mark Carter Not Playing
"Yeah both of those guys were going to be game-time decisions based on what the training staff said. Carter had a high ankle sprain and Troymain had a thigh injury and couldn't do anything off it. It was tough not having those guys out there in the rotation, on top of the other injuries we've endured this season already. I thought our guys did well to play through it and kept the tempo up. The pace was in our favor and we had some open looks, the execution was there but we just didn't capitalize. Our guys played tough and were physical, but were shorthanded. We gave up too many offensive rebounds and too many second chance points. This game was right there for us."
On Dominic Brewton
"He stepped in in the absence of Troymain and had a big game for us. It's bittersweet because I'm happy for him, but still disappointed that we didn't do what we needed to do to win this game. It seemed like we did the things we were supposed to do to win, but didn't capitalize when we needed to. The scout was really good and we were prepared, but they made plays when the game got close and we didn't. They made some big shots, but we have to be able to get stops in those situations in order to win."
On overcoming scoring droughts
"We didn't take control of the game when the opportunities were there for us. The goal for this game was to get six kills – a kill is when you get three stops in a row. We fell short of that with four kills, but we did put together some stops. We again didn't capitalize offensively when we needed to. We had some open looks from three that we normally make but didn't. Still, our guys fought and we had a chance to win this game despite being under-manned."
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