The defending SWAC Tournament Champion Texas Southern Tigers dropped its season opener on the road Friday morning against Eastern Washington. The final from from Reese Court in Cheney Washington was 86-62.
It was a tale of two halfs for TSU who only trailed by two points at the half 32-30. Things quikcly got out of hand early in the second half as the Tigers found themselves trailing by 10 points at the 16:19 mark. The Eagles then went on a 27-6 run, capped by Tyler Harvey’s three pointer, to take a 59-36 lead with 10:36 left. They extended the lead to 73-43 with 6:47 remaining.
EW shot 50 percent from the field while Texas Southern was held to 30 percent.
Tonnie Collier scored a game high 23 points to lead Texas Southern. He also pulled down six rebounds. Chris Thomas added 16 points to go along with eight rebounds. Deverell chipped in 14 points and six boards.
North Carolina State def Jackson State 93-58
Box Score
RALEIGH, N.C. – Jackson State University fell on the road to North Carolina State 93-58 Friday night PNC Arena
Anthony Barber scored a career-high 25 points to help the Wolfpack beat Jackson State 93-58 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams. Alabama transfer Trevor Lacey added 22 points in his first game for N.C. State, which never trailed. Lacey and Barber combined to score 36 of their points in the first half on 12-of-16 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
The Wolfpack led 47-26 at halftime after shooting 58 percent from the field and committing just two turnovers. N.C. State scored the first seven points of the second half and never led by fewer than 26 points the rest of the way.
Javeres Brent scored 13 points to lead Jackson State, which shot 28 percent, and made five of 24 three point tries. Kaven Bernard added 12 points for the Tigers. Brent was quiet in the first half until the final 3 minutes. He scored nine quick points for the Tigers in a span of 98 seconds by sandwiching a pair of 3-pointers around three free throws.
The Wolfpack missed their first five shots from the floor, but they made amends by scoring on their next six possessions to take a 20-8 lead with 11:41 remaining in the first half. Barber provided the spark, hitting two free throws, a layup and a 3-pointer off the dribble on consecutive possessions to ignite the run.
JSU allowed a 21-5 spurt featuring 10 points from Lacey and eight points from Barber to build a 26-point lead with 3 minutes left in the first half.
George Washington def Grambling State 92-40
WASHINGTON — Patricio Garino scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half to lead George Washington past Grambling State 92-40 in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
Garino made eight of 10 field goals, adding four steals and two blocked shots.
George Washington opened the game with a 12-2 run and, after A’Torri Shine hit a jumper to pull Grambling State within eight, a three-point play by Joe McDonald sparked another 14-2 run which opened up a 20-point Colonials’ lead with 7:59 left in the half.
Kevin Larsen finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Kethan Savage added 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks in the win.
Richard Freeman paced Grambling State, which shot just 28.3 percent from the field, with 13 points.
It was George Washington’s largest margin of victory since a 109-57 win over Duquesne on Jan. 28, 1999.
It was the coaching debut for Grambling State head coach Shawn Walker.
Indiana def Mississippi Valley State 116-65
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The coaching debut for Andre Payne was unsuccessful as Mississippi Valley State University fell to Indiana 116-65 on Friday.
The Hoosiers (1-0) set a school record for most points in their second-largest victory margin in a season opener. The previous marks came in Indiana’s 110-64 victory at the start of the 1976-77 season. Indiana has now 17 straight openers.
Mississippi Valley State (0-1) was led by Jordan Washington with 17 points. MVSU led just once, 4-3, and loss control by IU to make 11 of its final 12 shots in the first half. The seven minute barrage helped Indiana turn a 25-18 contest into a 54-31 deficit.
The Hoosiers sealed it by opening the second half a three-point play and three straight 3-pointers to make it 66-33 and finished the game shooting 66.1 percent.
The Delta Devis struggled on the boards losing the rebounding edge 53-26 and was limited to just 34.2 percent shooting. MVSU was able to force 19 turnovers.
Mississippi Valley State junior guard Tyler Corley had never played a game in his home state prior to Friday. He went on to struggle connecting on three of four from the field and finishing with nine points in front of his family, which wore green-and-red jerseys after making the roughly 1-hour drive from Indianapolis.
Dayton def Alabama A&M 76-52
DAYTON, Ohio – Dayton had three players in double figures to lead a balanced attack in a 76-52 win Friday night over Alabama A&M.
Dyshawn Pierre and Darrell Davis led the way for the Flyers with 17 and 16 points respectively and Kyle Davis added 13. It was the season opener for both teams and the 10th consecutive win for the Flyers in season openers.
The Bulldogs started slowly with Dayton taking a 12-2 lead on a 10-0 run before Rakiya Battle’s basket made the score 12-4. Rakiya Battle was the lone Bulldog to reach double figures and led the team with 15 points and Justin Colvin chipped in with 9 points.
The Bulldogs, who trailed 43-25 at the half, shot 32.7 percent from the field, hitting 16 of 49 shots, and were 13 of 18 from the free-throw line for 72.2 percent. Dayton outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-27.
AAMU will travel to Georgia Tech on Tuesday to take on the Yellow Jackets.
TCU def Prairie View 71-54
FORT WORTH, Texas — Four TCU players scored in double-figures to lead the Horned Frogs to a 71-54 win over Prairie View A&M in the season-opener for both teams.
TCU was playing its first game at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center, its home for the 2014-15 season while the on-campus Daniel-Meyer Coliseum undergoes renovations.
Trey Zeigler, who sat out last season after transferring from Pittsburgh, scored 14 points. Karviar Shepherd added 13 to go with rebounds for the Horned Frogs.
Prairie View A&M’s Jacoby Green cut the deficit to 38-34 on a three-pointer with 14:49 remaining, but TCU responded with a 22-4 run. Tre Hagood ended the run with a pair of free-throws and consecutive three-pointers over a 47-second span, snapping a 9:37 field goal drought for the Panthers.
TCU was able to utilize its size throughout the game, outscoring Prairie View A&M 38-16 in the paint as well as holding a 50-25 rebounding advantage. The Horned Frogs did victimize themselves, however, with 16 turnovers.
The Panthers were one game away from clinching the SWAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years. Hagood and Karim York led the squad with 13 points apiece.
Last season the Panthers led the SWAC in three-pointers made (6.6 per game) and finished third in three-point percentage (34 percent). They ended the game with six treys on 33 percent shooting.
Alabama State def Auburn-Montgomery 105-65
The Alabama State men’s basketball team had five players reach double-digit scoring as ASU started the season with a 105-64 win over Auburn Montgomery.
DeMarcus Robinson led the way with 23 points and Brandon Graham added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Other double digit scorers were Bobby Brown(14) and Maurice Strong (12). Freshman and Montgomery native Steve Rogers had 13 points in his ASU debut knocking down three field goals, two three’s, and hitting all five of his free throws.
The Hornets (1-0) shot 52 percent from the field (38-73). ASU finished the game hitting 10 three point field goals (44%) as Graham finished with four.
Jamel Waters only shot the ball six times, but hit four of those for eight points. He also had a game-high seven assists and two steals.
The crowd was ready to see ASU’s new big men in action and both wound up playing at the same time for a good amount of time. Wendell Lewis scored seven points and had seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action and Robert Ojeah got in eight minutes and added four points and a steal.
AUM’s Jeremy Newton led the Warhawks with 22 points and Rodrick Robinson had 11. AUM shot 38 percent from the field and hit 33 percent of their three point attempts.
ASU won the rebounding battle 52-29 while also forcing 15 turnovers. ASU had eight steals and three blocked shots.
ASU bolted out to a 53-33 halftime lead behind 53 percent shooting from the field and that includes hitting six of their 12 three point field goals. Robinson led the way with 15 first-half points while Strong added 12.
The Hornets will not have a long time to rest. They will board a bus at 6 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday) and drive to Fayetteville, Ark., where they will face the Razorbacks of Arkansas Sunday at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network+.
California def Alcorn State 91-57
BERKELEY, Calif. — LeAntwan Luckett, the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason player of the scored 18 points but it wasn’t enough for his Alcorn State team to get past California. The Braves were defeated 91-57 Friday night.
Tyrone Wallace scored 17 of his career-high 22 points in the first half and Cuonzo Martin won his debut as California’s coach and the Golden.
Jordan Mathews scored 18 points, David Kravish added 13 points and eight rebounds and Jabari Bird had 12 points and nine assists to help Cal win its ninth consecutive season-opener.
The Bears opened the game with a 15-0 run and took advantage of the slow start by Alcorn State while dominating in the paint and on the perimeter.
The Braves missed their first six shots, and were hit with an early technical foul for not having a player registered in the official scorer’s book.
The Braves, 12-19 a year ago and coming off their best record since 2003, shot 31.6 percent from the floor, committed 10 turnovers and were outrebounded 44-34.
Alcorn State plays eight of its first nine games on the road and has two games in El Paso, Texas, as part of the Sun Bowl Tournament.
Louisiana Tech def Southern 85-76
BATON ROUGE, La. — Alex Hamilton scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds Friday night, leading Louisiana Tech to an 85-76 win against Southern in the season opening game for both teams.
Joell Hopkins led the Jaguars with 13 points. Christopher Hyder, Trelun Banks, and Adrian Rodgers each added nine.
Four of five starters scored 10 or more points for Louisiana Tech, with Erik McCree adding 17 points and eight boards, and Raheem Appleby and Kenneth Smith each finishing with 15 apiece. Overall the Bulldogs drew 30 Jaguar fouls and got to the free-throw line 40 times.
Courtesy: SWAC.org