Troymain Crosby
59
Mississippi Val. MVSU 0-11,0-3 SWAC
71
Winner Alcorn Alcorn 1-6,1-1 SWAC
Mississippi Val. MVSU
0-11,0-3 SWAC
59
Final
71
Alcorn Alcorn
1-6,1-1 SWAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Mississippi Val. MVSU 25 34 59
Alcorn Alcorn 35 36 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Braves Win Long-Awaited Home Opener Over Delta Devils

LORMAN, Miss. – With the first two home games on the schedule postponed, it took until the middle of January before the Alcorn State University men's basketball team was able to enjoy a game on their home court. They sure made the most of it as the Braves took the 71-59 Southwestern Athletic Conference victory over Mississippi Valley State Saturday night inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.

All 10 Braves players that saw the court scored at least two points with Troymain Crosby not slowing down after eclipsing 1,000 career points last time out. He led all-scorers with 23 points on a sizzling 9-12 from the field. He also pulled down a team-best six boards in 31 minutes. Kurk Lee added nine points, David Pierce III with eight and Anthony Fairley chipped in seven.

 "It was very nice to be back at home and play in front of the home crowd. Thankful for the custodian and staff for setting up everything to be able to play due to COVID-19," Crosby said.

It was also the first head coaching win at Alcorn for Landon Bussie who spent the previous six seasons as an assistant coach at fellow SWAC school Prairie View A&M.

"I'm excited to get our first win of the season. This win is big for our players confidence and great momentum going in to the game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff," Bussie said. "Troymain was huge for us tonight. We put a lot of pressure on him on both sides of the ball and he performed well today. Altogether, this was a good team win and I plan on building off of it."

Alcorn (1-6, 1-1 SWAC) utilized points off turnovers (12-4), second chance points (12-5) and bench points (25-13) to grab the win. The Braves forced 13 turnovers and committed just six. It was a hot-shooting second half where Alcorn shot 56 percent and for the game made 27-55 (49.1) from the field. They also went 6-22 (27.3) from three and 11-16 from the foul line.

Crosby wasted little time getting things going as he hit two foul shots just four seconds in and then grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a dunk for the early 4-0 lead not even a minute in.

"It feels good to win, as any win is better than a loss. As a unit, we have to take the positive of the game and build on it and learn from the negative so we can get better. Honestly my teammates effort and energy worked best for me tonight it was a domino effect since shoot around earlier in the day. My approach to the game is the same every time I step on the court. By being thankful for the opportunity to be able to play the game and enjoy it while I can. One day eventually the ball is going to stop bouncing, so I choose to maximize and cherish the game every time I step on the floor," Crosby said, as he reached the 20-point plateau for the third time this season and third in the last four games.

After MVSU pushed back to within a point four minutes in, it would be all Braves the rest of the half. A jumper by Kobe Wilson and a layup by Tyree Corbett each kept the advantage at 11. Alcorn would get the lead as high as 11 one more time in the half before taking a 35-25 lead into the locker rooms after Crosby sunk a jumper to close the half.

Off a steal by Lee early in the second half, that led to a pair from the foul line for Crosby to push the lead to the largest of the night at 16, 41-25. The Delta Devils wouldn't go away, chipping away to get to within five near the midway point of the half.

Alcorn responded out of a timeout with Crosby hitting a jumper and another jumper by Lee at the 7:29 mark had the advantage back to 10. Following one more push by MVSU to get to within five with six minutes to play, the Braves started to pull away with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to jump the lead to 63-51.
The Braves would keep the lead at double-digits the rest of the way to take the 71-59 victory.

Treylan Smith led MVSU with 18 points, while Terry Collins added 11 and LeAndra Howard with nine. The Braves limited the Delta Devils to just 17-46 (37.0) shooting from the field, 6-20 (30) from three and 19-26 (73.1) from the foul line.

Alcorn will look to keep the momentum going this Monday when they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Martin Luther King Jr. Day beginning at 3:30 p.m. inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
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