GRAMBLING, La. – Senior Troymain Crosby needed just eight points to reach 1,000 career points during his career at Alcorn State. He did just that and more, scoring 18 Tuesday night as the Braves almost rallied, but fell just short at Grambling State with the Tigers taking the 79-74 Southwestern Athletic Conference victory inside Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
It had been a long wait for Alcorn (0-6, 0-1 SWAC) as their first three conference games were postponed due to COVID-19. As it turned out, the last time the Braves played was at #2 Baylor back on Dec. 30. Crosby was able to reach 1,000 points at the 14:51 mark of the second half when he connected on a pair of free throws for his eighth and ninth points of the night. Crosby and Kurk Lee combined to lead the Braves with 38 points, as Lee led the team with 20. Tyree Corbett also reached double-figures with 15 points. Corbett led the team in rebounds with six, Lee dished out a team-high six assists and Byron Joshua had three steals.
Oddyst Walker opened the scoring for Alcorn 28 seconds in with a layup. Grambling State (4-6, 2-1 SWAC) answered back with the next eight points to jump out to an 8-2 lead nearly four minutes in. After falling down by nine midway through the first half, the Braves came roaring back with free throws from Jacoby Ross and then Joshua hit back-to-back three-pointers to trim the deficit to one at 20-19.
The Tigers were able to add five points to their lead the remainder of the half to take a 35-29 lead at the break.
Crosby then came out determined in the second half, converting a three-point-play to cut the deficit to three. Lee later added a pair of three-pointers to push Alcorn back in front at 39-38 just over two minutes into the second stanza.
Each time Alcorn made a push, Grambling State had the answer breaking open a tied game to go in front by eight. Crosby came back with four straight from the foul line to cut the deficit back to four. The Tigers caught fire once again to push the lead as high as 14.
Alcorn refused to go away, thanks to a layup by Corbett, a free throw from Walker and a jumper by Lee, the Braves were right back in it down six with just over a minute to play. Following a defensive stand that resulted in an offensive foul, Walker hit a jumper with 26 seconds to play to leave the Tigers ahead by just four at 78-74.
Grambling State would hit one of two from the line and a Walker three-point attempt with nine seconds to play would just miss leaving the Tigers with the 79-74 victory.
Alcorn went 21-54 (38.9) from the field, 8-28 (28.6) from three and 24-29 (82.8) from the foul line. The teams tied in points off turnovers (12-12) and the Braves held a slight edge on fastbreak points (12-11). Grambling State used a solid edge on bench points (28-12), points in the paint (34-20) and second-chance points (7-2).
Three reached double-figures in scoring for Grambling State as Cameron Christon had a game-high 24 points. Terreon Randolph added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Reyhan Cobb had 10 points. The Tigers went 25-50 (50) from the field, 4-13 (30.8) from three and 25-42 (59.5) at the foul line.
Alcorn will now return home this coming Saturday as they will host Mississippi Valley State starting at 5:30 p.m. inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.
