HOUSTON, Texas – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program got 17 points from freshman
Byron Joshua by halftime and led Texas Southern by five at the break but could not hold on, losing 80-78.
The Braves (6-11, 6-6 SWAC) were connecting on triples at an impressive clip, draining half of its shots from downtown (9-for-18) and had a commanding 11-point cushion with 11:22 remaining in the game before the Maroon and Silver mounted an impressive comeback to snatch a victory from the Braves.
Joshua had by far the best game of his young tenure on "The Reservation", dropping a personal-best 30 points on the hosts while setting other career-highs for field goals (10), rebounds (8), free throws made (6) and three-pointers (4-of-4) to go along with topping the team in assists (4) plus steals (2).
He was not the only player donning Purple and Gold to put forth a career effort despite defeat.
David Pierce set a new benchmark in scoring as well, pouring in 18 points to go along with a personal-high of four long balls as well.
Tying with Joshua for top rebounder of the night for Alcorn was
Tyree Corbett who grabbed eight boards, four of each on offense and defense.
Oddyst Walker was the third and final Braves player to log double-figures in scoring, matching his jersey number by putting up a 13-spot.
Texas Southern (12-8, 9-3 SWAC) had five of its eight players that dressed score at least 11 points and all eight recorded a rebound.
Michael Weathers fronted TSU with 18 points and three assists as well as seven rebounds.
Galen Alexander registered 14 points with ten of those coming on free throws as he was perfect from the line (10-for-10), all while pulling down a game-high nine boards.
Karl Nicholas contributed 13 points while swatting away a game-best three blocks, Jordan Gilliam had 11 points and led the squad with three steals while Justin Hopkins put together 17 points.
The Basketball Braves conclude the regular season at unblemished Prairie View A&M on Saturday afternoon with tipoff at 2:30 p.m. in an uncommon Sunday matinee.
NOTES
- Texas Southern widened its margin in the all-time series to 63-55, snapping a two-game slide to the Braves in the process.
- Alcorn outplayed TSU in many categories including field-goal percentage (44.3-40.0), three-point percentage (50.0-18.2), free throw percentage (83.3-82.1) and assists (9-8).
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