BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Alcorn State men's basketball team's postseason championship dreams came to an end after the Braves fell to Texas Southern 66-62 in the quarterfinal round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday evening.
After defeating Texas Southern twice in the regular season, once by five in overtime in Houston and the last by eight in Lorman, Alcorn State knew beating the Tigers a third time would not be an easy feat.
The Braves made a valiant effort, even leading Texas Southern 30-27 at the half. Unfortunately, Alcorn could not maintain the momentum. An early second-half scoring surge put the Tigers in the driver's seat, earning them their first 2023 victory over the Braves, exactly when it counted.
Alcorn (18-13, 15-3 SWAC) closes out the season as the 2022-23 SWAC Regular Season Champions, a title shared with Grambling, with head coach Landon Bussie as the Co-Coach of the Year.
Byron Joshua had his second double-double for the Braves, scoring 21 points and 10 rebounds. He also had six assists in the effort. Jeremiah Kendall found a different scoring success than during the Braves last outing against Texas Southern, falling short of his previous 33 points with just 10. But he was aided by Dekedran Thorn and Dominic Brewton, who also had 10 points each.
Texas Southern (12-20, 7-11 SWAC) built a double-digit lead by scoring 17 in a row to lead 50-34 with 10:35 left in the game. Alcorn would go on a 14-2 scoring run to get back within four, but the Braves could not tie or take the lead.
Alcorn would get within one, 59-58, with 2:09 left in the game when Thorn dunked on a fastbreak. But Texas Southern would continue to hold the lead.
In the final two minutes, the Tigers outscored Alcorn 7-3 to seal the victory and advance to the tournament's semifinal round against the winner of the Southern and Alabama A&M game tomorrow.
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