Braves Unable to Find Rhythm against Southern

LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program came out on the short end of a 71-57 decision to Southern on Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
Southern (14-15, 11-5 SWAC) played a clean game with just eight turnovers, and pounded it inside for a 38-14 edge over Alcorn (13-14, 9-7 SWAC) in points in the paint. The Jaguars only had one double-figure scorer, but used a balanced attack and posted a 33-6 edge in bench scoring.
 
Senior Corey Tillery had the hot hand for the Braves. He totaled a game-high 21 points and was 6-for-10 from three-point range. Senior Maurice Howard also reached double-figures with 12 points and five assists.
 
The Jaguars were paced by Jayden Saddler's 14 points off the bench. Eight different Jaguars netted at least six points.
 
The Braves led 10-7 early after Tillery drilled a three at the 17:48 mark. Alcorn was still on top 13-12 when SU responded with an 8-0 run to take a 20-13 edge with 13:58 left.
 
Another three by Tillery sparked a 7-0 spurt to tie it 20-20 with 12:46 to go. Though, another 7-0 run by the Jaguars put them back in front 29-22 with 8:31 remaining.
 
Southern's largest lead of the half 35-24 came on a pair of free throws by Saddler at the 6:04 mark. A three-pointer by senior Deshaw Andrews had Alcorn trailing 41-35 with 2:24 left, but the Jaguars were able to get their lead up to 46-37 at the half.
 
The game slowed down in the second half and buckets were much harder to come by. A pair of free throws by Andrews and a three by Tillery had the Braves trailing just 48-44 with 14:31 to go.
 
However, SU answered with a big 10-0 spurt to carry a 58-44 advantage at the 9:14 mark. From there, the Braves could never fire back with the big run they needed to get back in the game. As the Jaguars milked the shot clock on nearly every possession down the stretch, Alcorn couldn't get the deficit back into single-figures the rest of the way.
 
Up next, Alcorn will remain at home Thursday when it hosts Prairie View A&M at 7:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. The Braves are 73-37 all-time against the Panthers.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn is now 6-5 against Southern under head coach Montez Robinson.
 
- Robinson, who is in his fifth season, carries a 48-40 SWAC record in his career.
 
- The Braves entered the game ranked top-30 in the nation and first in the SWAC in three-pointers made per game with 9.3, and were right on par with nine made in the game.
 
- Andrews was 1-for-3 from long range. If the season ended today, Andrews would break the single-season record in three-point percentage at Alcorn with a .483 mark.
 
- With six threes made in the game, Tillery is up to 80 made on the year which is the second-most in school history in a season. He's chasing Howard's mark of 95 made last year. Tillery tallied his 19th double-figure scoring game of the year and third 20-plus outing. It was the sixth time that he's made at least five threes in a game this season.
 
- Howard notched his 19th double-digit scoring game of the year and 63rd of his career. He's up to 1,315 career points and 326 assists. Howard dished out a game-high five assists tonight.
 
- Junior Kobe Wilson entered the game ranked third in the SWAC in blocks (1.1 bpg) and swatted away a pair. Alcorn outblocked Southern 7-2 as junior Anthony Fairley also rejected a pair.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"The game was right there where we wanted it to be. We knew the game would be scored in the mid 60's. What was most disappointing was our free throw shooting. We lead the league in free throw percentage but shot 51 percent tonight. We missed 13 free throws. If we would have made our average percentage then we would have been right there in this ball game. I was also disappointed with the turnovers. We gave up way too many in the second half and they were live-ball turnovers, which led to them getting easy points. We guarded well in the second half and they were scoreless in the first four minutes of the second half, but the turnovers really hurt us."
 
On not being able to take advantage of getting stops in the second half
"We had some looks, we just didn't capitalize. There was a point in the second half where we got seven stops in a row defensively, which was exactly what we wanted. We did execute at times, drove to the basket and got fouled, but we couldn't make our free throws. The free throw shooting really hindered us and Southern never really felt the pressure or got tight because of it. Again, if there's one thing I take from this game, it's how disappointed I am in the way we shot free throws tonight."
 
 On what the message was to the team after the game
"We control our own destiny and we're still competing for a home game in the first round. We have to have more of a sense of urgency, especially on our home court. We didn't own the court tonight. We didn't own every possession and there needs to be more urgency in these last two games."
 
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