HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – In a tale of two halves, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program couldn't buy a bucket in the second half Saturday and fell to Alabama A&M 71-61 at T.M. Elmore Gym.
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Alcorn (12-13, 8-6 SWAC) led AAMU (7-17, 4-9 SWAC) by 11 late in the first half and by eight at the intermission. The Braves shot 14-of-26 (.538) from the floor and 6-of-12 (.500) from three in the half.
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Though in the second, the script flipped as Alcorn was just 8-of-29 (.276) from the field and 2-of-13 (.154) from long range. The Braves missed their first eight three-point attempts in the second as the Bulldogs quickly erased the halftime deficit and never looked back.
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Senior
Deshaw Andrews registered 17 points and four rebounds. He was 5-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond-the-arc.
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Junior
Troymain Crosby tallied 16 points and a team-high five rebounds. Senior
Maurice Howard also reached double-figures with 10 points and four assists.
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AAMU played a relatively clean game with just 10 turnovers. Cameron Alford recorded a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
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The Braves built an early 10-4 lead as Crosby knocked down a pair of threes. After AAMU cut it to 14-13, Alcorn responded with a 10-0 run which included threes by both Andrews and Howard to lead 24-13 at the 7:06 mark.
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Andrews buried another three to keep the Braves on top 34-23 with 2:25 to go. A tip-in by Andrews on the final possession of the half had Alcorn leading 36-28 at the break.
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AAMU quickly took control early in the second. With the Braves going ice-cold from the field, the Bulldogs used an 11-2 spurt to grab a 39-38 edge with 16:00 left. Alcorn's final lead of the game came on a lay-up by Crosby with 15:13 remaining to put the Braves up 41-39.
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AAMU went on a 10-0 run, capped by a lay-up by Cameron Tucker to catapult ahead 49-41 with 10:28 remaining. The Braves used a pair of free throws and a jumper by Crosby to stay within striking distance and trailed 51-47 at the 7:52 mark.
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Though down the stretch, Alcorn couldn't hit enough shots to complete a comeback. A three-pointer by Andrews had them down 55-50 with 5:10 left, but the Bulldogs put it away by scoring the next eight points to lead 63-50 with 2:04 remaining.
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Alcorn will play its final conference road game of the season on Monday when it travels to Alabama State at 7:30 p.m. at Dunn-Oliver Acadome. The Braves won the first meeting this year 63-60 and are 6-3 against the Hornets under head coach
Montez Robinson.
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NOTES
- The Braves dropped to 24-21 all-time against AAMU and 8-2 under Robinson.
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- It was the first time this year Alcorn lost after leading at halftime. The Braves are now 10-1 (6-1 SWAC) when leading at the intermission.
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- Robinson is now 47-39 in his career against the SWAC. He's in his fifth season.
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- Andrews submitted his 30th career double-figure scoring game and 18th this year. By shooting 3-for-5 from three, he increased his season average to .491 (53-108). If the season ended today, that mark would be the highest in single-season school history.
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- Crosby was 2-for-2 from the free throw line to up his average to .847 (94-for-111), which ranks first in the SWAC. Crosby notched his 43rd career double-figure scoring game and 16th this season.
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- Howard turned in his 62nd career double-digit scoring performance and 18th this year. He's up to 1,297 career points. Howard is also top-five in school history in career assists with 319. He dished out four assists tonight with just one turnover.
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Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"The ball just wouldn't go in – couldn't get it to go in the second half. Though, it really wasn't about the shooting, it was about us defensively. We gave up too many straight line drives and we fouled too much in the second half. The game came down to us not being able to guard. They realized in the second half if they put their heads down and drove the ball then they'd either get to the basket or get fouled. We talked about that specifically both at practice yesterday and at pre-game today. We have to be able to set a wall up and not let guys get all the way through the paint. We obviously didn't get it done in the second half."
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On how they could have stopped the bleeding in the second half
"Well, when you're not making shots you have to be able to get back in transition. We didn't do a good job of that. They scored a lot on the fast-break early in the second half, and those quick baskets got them ahead. We called a timeout early in the second half to try and stop it, but we weren't making shots. It wasn't just threes either. We had some good looks inside but the ball just rimmed out. We also had some dumb fouls in the second half. We fouled a guy shooting a three and a couple other times we fouled late in the shot clock. We just made some really bad mistakes in the second half of this game."
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On what he told his team after the game
"This game was about us. It's not taking anything away from the other team, it's about us not being able to make shots or man'ing up and guarding for 40 minutes. We played a good first half – it wasn't a great first half, it was a good first half. But we came back out and let a team score 43 points on us when we held them to 28 in the first half. AAMU had just eight points in the paint in the first half but ended the game with 30 points in the paint. We can't do that and expect to win a game."
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#FearTheBrave
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