LORMAN, Miss. — DeMarcus Robinson made six 3-pointers and scored 23 points and Alabama State survived a late Alcorn State rally to win 71-67 on Saturday night.
Alabama State led from the opening minute and was up by as many 19 points in the second half. Alcorn State rallied in the final minutes and cut the deficit to 67-65 with 10 seconds left.
Robinson and Jamel Waters sandwiched two free throws each around a basket by the Braves’ LeAntwan Luckett before Alcorn State’s Tamarcio Wilson missed a 3-pointer as time ran out.
Maurice Strong added 13 points and Waters 11 for the Hornets (15-7, 11-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference), who remained atop the conference standings after winning for the 12th time in their last 14 games.
Luckett scored 19 points to lead the Braves (5-21, 4-10), who lost their third in a row. George Thomas added 17 points and Wilson 14.
Texas Southern def Arkansas Pine Bluff 56-50
HOUSTON — Malcolm Riley scored 22 points with nine rebounds and Texas Southern edged Arkansas-Pine Bluff 56-50 on Saturday.
Texas Southern (14-12, 11-2) led 12-3 over the first 7:18 as UAPB started 1 of 9 from the floor.
The Golden Lions eventually warmed up and took the lead on Trent Whiting’s dunk with 3:32 left in the half. Whiting’s jumper and Jaylon Floyd’s tip-in gave UAPB a 31-30 lead at the break.
Riley made four consecutive free throws, sandwiched around David Blanks’ layup, to lead 52-45 with 5:11 to go.
Thaddeus Handley responded with a jumper to cut the deficit to five with 4:46, but UAPB didn’t make another basket until 10 seconds remained.
UAPB (9-19, 6-8) was led by Whiting’s 14 points. UAPB was just 3 of 17 from beyond the arc.
TSU made 24 of 36 from the line, where UAPB was just 5 of 8.
Prairie View def Mississippi Valley State 84-74
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Tre Hagood scored 22 points and Prairie View topped Mississippi Valley State 84-74 on Saturday.
Hagood was 10 of 18 from the floor as Prairie View shot 46 percent. John Brisco scored 16 points and Montrael Scott added 13. Reggis Onwukamuche had 11 rebounds with nine points.
Prairie View (10-16, 8-5 Southwestern) dominated most of the first half. Jaryn Johnson’s 3-pointer gave the Panthers a nine-point lead 6 1/2 minutes in.
The lead grew to 20 on Jacoby Green’s trey with 4:21 until halftime, but MVSU chipped away and reduced the deficit to 11, 47-36, at intermission.
MVSU clawed back to tie at 54 on Jeffrey Simmons’ layup with 13:03 left, and the and-one lifted the Delta Devils to their only lead of the day. Hagood’s jumper on the next possession gave Prairie View the lead back for good.
MVSU (5-22, 4-10) was led by Simmons with 25 points. Isaac Williams added 12 and DeAngelo Priar had 10.
Southern def Alabama A&M 72-63
BATON ROUGE, La. — Tre Lynch scored 15 points and Southern defeated Alabama A&M 72-63 on Saturday night.
Adrian Rodgers and Trelun Banks added 13 points apiece for the Jaguars.
Southern (14-14, 11-3) picked up its third consecutive victory and remained a half-game out of first place in the SWAC.
Leading 34-33 at halftime, Southern went on a 12-0 run to start the second half and led by as many at 14 points before Alabama A&M eventually closed to within three points with just over seven minutes remaining on a basket by Ladarius Tabb.
But the Jaguars responded with eight unanswered points and the Bulldogs would only get as close as nine thereafter.
Tabb scored 17 points and Rakiya Battle 11 for the Bulldogs (7-16, 6-7).
Southern made 30 of 59 shots for 50.8 percent while Alabama A&M made just 21 of 55 for 38.2 percent.
SWAC.org
