MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program used an 18-1 run to grab a big lead in the first half and then held off an Alabama State comeback attempt down the stretch for an 80-77 victory Monday at Dunn-Oliver Acadome in the final conference road game of the year.
The Braves (13-13, 9-6 SWAC) completed the season sweep over the Hornets (8-19, 7-7 SWAC).
Alcorn led by 15 at half, and by 18 early in the second half when Alabama State came storming back. The Hornets made it a one possession game with under a minute left, but the hole was too deep and the Braves were able to make enough free throws in the end to hang on.
The Braves overcame 20 turnovers by shooting .528 (28-for-53) from the floor, including .462 (12-of-26) from three.
Senior
Corey Tillery netted 17 points on 4-of-8 from three, and Alcorn got a big 17-point contribution from freshman
Dominic Brewton who was 6-of-7 from the field.
Junior
Troymain Crosby submitted a solid 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior
Deshaw Andrews finished with 13 points.
Alabama State pulled down 15 offensive rebounds and took 19 more field goals than the Braves. Though, the Hornets were held to a .286 (8-of-28) clip from beyond-the-arc.
Tobi Uwuosho neared a double-double for ASU with 15 points and nine rebounds. A lot of Alabama State's offense came from its bench as Kevin Holston scored 13, Jacoby Ross 13 and Justin Rogers 11.
The Braves got off to a slow start and trailed 18-9 after the first seven minutes. Though, from there it as all Alcorn in the first half.
A jumper by Brewton sparked a big 10-0 run, capped by a pair of free throws by Crosby to put Alcorn up 19-18 at the 8:21 mark. The 10-0 spurt was continued into a 18-1 run as three-pointers by Crosby and Tillery gave the Braves a 27-19 edge with 5:18 remaining.
Leading 36-27, Alcorn reeled off 8 of the last 10 points of the half which included threes by Brewton and Tillery to carry a 44-29 advantage into the intermission.
On the first possession of the second half, Tillery drilled a three to put the Braves up 47-29, their largest lead of the game.
Alcorn led 60-45 with 12:33 left when the comeback was on for the Hornets. They used a lay-up and three consecutive three-pointers to go on an 11-0 tear and trailed 60-56 with 8:56 left.
The Braves punched back with a lay-up by Crosby and an old-fashion three-point play by Andrews to go ack up 71-61 at the 5:53 mark, and were still ahead 74-64 after a three by Brewton with 2:30 to go.
Though, Alabama State would not go away in the final two minutes. The Hornets garnered a 7-0 run to cut the deficit down to just 76-73 with 39 seconds left. Junior
Kobe Wilson hit a pair of big free throws to put Alcorn up by five, and after a defensive stop, Howard hit one-of-two to lead 79-73 with 28 seconds left.
After an Alabama State bucket by Daniels to trail by four, Crosby found Tillery away from defenders and he wisely dribbled down the court and into a corner instead of taking a lay-up before he was fouled with four seconds remaining. He made one free throw to give Alcorn a five-point lead, and the Hornets made a lay-up at the buzzer for the final 80-77 score.
The Braves will begin a three-game homestand to end the regular season next weekend when they host Southern at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. Alcorn is 6-4 against SU under head coach
Montez Robinson.
NOTES
- The Braves are now 7-3 against Alabama State under Robinson.
- Alcorn completed its third season sweep of the year after previously sweep Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
- Robinson improved his career SWAC record to 48-39. He's in his fifth season.
- Alcorn entered the game ranked top-30 in the country in threes made per game (9.2) and that average will go up after nailing 12.
- The Braves are 3-0 SWAC in games decided by three points or less.
- If the season ended today, Andrews would break the single-season three-point percentage record in Alcorn history with a league-leading .487 clip. He's 55-for-113 on the year. Andrews registered his 31st career double-figure scoring game and 19th this season.
- Crosby entered the game leading the SWAC in free throw percentage and was 2-for-2 in the game. He's now shooting .850 (96-for-113) from the charity stripe. Crosby tallied his 44th career double-figure scoring game and 17th this year. He's quietly up to 874 career points in three seasons.
- Tillery's four three-pointers ups him to 74 on the year, the second-most in Alcorn single-season history. Senior
Maurice Howard holds the record with 95 threes made last season. Tillery etched his 18th double-figure scoring game of the year.
- Brewton's 17 points were the second-most of his career, only behind a 23-point outing at Grambling State earlier this season. It was Brewton's third double-digit scoring outing of the year. His six rebounds were one shy of his career-high.
- Wilson entered the game ranked top-five in the SWAC in blocks (1.1 bpg) and swatted away three in the contest.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"I'm really glad for our guys and the way they gutted this one out. They played their hearts out and it was a team effort. We felt a little bit down after the game the other night and felt we let one get away. We needed to get a win on this road trip and made some shots. Teams have been driving the ball on us and we've been focusing on stopping it. We need to keep guys from getting in the paint or too deep near the basket. We'll continue to be battle-tested and will leave it all on the floor. We have three games left, all at home, and we're going to leave it all out."
On Alcorn's big run in the first half
"We put together three kills during that stretch. A kill is three stops in a row, and we did that three times. Offensively, we were aggressive, attacking the basket and made some shots.
Dominic Brewton did a great job of handling the ball, pushing the tempo and finding the open guy. He had a big game for us. We did a well at driving and either taking the lay-up or kicking it out to the open guy."
On the three-point shooting
"We're at our best we take about 25 attempts. With the type shooters we have, we have to take that many. Alabama State made some tough ones in the second half to get back in it – we were in their face when they took them. Though, tonight wasn't really about the three-point shooting, it was more about the effort from the guys. I was really pleased with the effort tonight."
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