LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University men's basketball team pulled to within six a couple of times down the stretch before Jackson State was able to hold off a potential rally to defeat the Brave, 74-66, Saturday night in Southwestern Athletic Conference action inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.
It was no surprise that Troymain Crosby led the way for the Braves with a game-high 25 points on 7-15 shooting, 2-3 from three and 9-10 from the foul line. He also grabbed four rebounds and tallied three steals in 37 minutes. Oddyst Walker also reached double-figures in scoring with10 points. He added four steals and two rebounds in 18 minutes. Tyree Corbett and David Pierce III each added six points apiece. Alcorn (3-8, 3-3 SWAC) led in bench points (15-14) and fastbreak points (23-14).
The Braves took their first lead of the game just over five minutes in when Anthony Fairley hit a layup and Crosby added a jumper for the 6-5 lead. Jackson State (5-5, 5-0 SWAC) then went on a 10-0 run to jump out to a 15-6 lead at the 12:49 mark. Down 10, Alcorn pulled to within four after Pierce III hit back-to-back three-pointers made it 22-18.
Trailing by 14, Alcorn mounted another rally going on a 12-0 run to trim the Tigers lead to 35-33 late in the half. During the run, Arne Morris started the spurt with a three, along with Corbett hitting two from the line, Kurk Lee hitting a pair from line and after Walker hit a trey, Morris capped the run with two more from the line making it a two-point lead.
Jackson State closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 39-33 lead at the break.
Crosby started the second half with a three-pointer and Walker added two from the line Alcorn had it to within one at 39-38. The Tigers answered back to move back in front by seven over the next several minutes.
Jackson State had the lead out to 11 when Alcorn again came back to within six at the 4:38 mark off a dunk by Walker.
Following another run by the Tigers, the Braves made one final push to get to within six at 70-64 on a jumper by Crosby before Jackson State was able to outscore Alcorn by two the remainder of the game for the 74-66 victory.
Tristan Jarrett led Jackson State with 21 points along with six rebounds. Jonas James added 19 points. Cainan McClelland tallied 11 points and Ken Evans posted 10 points to give the Tigers with four in double-figures. Jayveous McKinnis nearly posted a double-double with eight points and 15 rebounds. Jackson State went 24-48 (50) from the field, 9-21 (42.9) from three and 17-23 (73.9) from the foul line.
Alcorn will remain at home this coming Monday when they will host Grambling State beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.
