Texas Southern def Alabama A&M 77-75
NORMAL, Ala. — Deverell Biggs scored 21 points, Madarious Gibbs added 20 and Texas Southern edged Alabama A&M 77-75 on Monday.
Alabama A&M closed the first half with a 14-6 run, including three pointers by Justin Colvin and Baryn Houston, to lead 32-30 at the break.
TSU (17-12, 14-2) led by 10 with 3:59 to go, but Alabama A&M scored on four-straight possessions, including a 3-pointer and layup by Ladarius Tabb. Arthur Wade’s layup tied it at 73 with 1:44 left.
Malcolm Riley made 1 of 2 free throws and Chris Thomas followed with a layup to put Texas Southern back up by three with 19 seconds remaining. Rakiya Battle made two from the line to bring the Bulldogs back to within one.
Gibbs made it a two-point game with a free throw, but Tabb missed a 3-pointer with four seconds to go.
Nicholas West led AAMU (8-18, 7-9) with 16 points.
Prairie View def Alabama State 67-65
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — John Brisco, who finished with 20 points, made two late free throws to secure Prairie View A&M’s 67-65 victory over Alabama State on Monday night.
Brisco nailed 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and was 4 of 4 from the line. Tre Hagood had 13 points and Karim York added 12 with nine rebounds for Prairie View A&M (13-16, 11-5), which has won seven straight.
Alabama State was up 30-29 at the break but Hagood nailed a jumper to give Prairie View a 38-36 lead with 14:59 left. The Panthers stretched that to 50-41 midway through the second period.
Steve Rogers Jr. drilled a three to cut Alabama State’s deficit to 61-59 with 2:55 left. Brisco answered with a jumper and closed the game out with two free throws as the Panthers held on for the win.
Rogers led Alabama State (16-9, 12-4) with 26.
Mississippi Valley State def Grambling State 66-62
GREENWOOD, Miss. — Jeffrey Simmons had 20 points and six assists as Mississippi Valley State held on to beat Grambling State 66-62 on Monday night.
DeAngelo Priar had 15 points and eight rebounds and Isaac Williams added 12 points for Mississippi Valley State (6-24, 5-12).
Grambling was ahead 50-43 with 6:57 left but MVSU had a 14-0 run to take a 57-50 lead with 4:56 remaining. Grambling charged back and closed to 61-60 when A’Torri Shine, who finished with 24 points, hit a jumper with 1:12 left. Priar responded quickly with a 3-pointer and Williams and Jabari Alex made four straight free throws to seal the win.
Grambling (2-24, 0-16) has lost 19 straight, with its last win against Selma University on Dec. 6, 2014.
Carlton Lowe and Mark Gray scored 13 points apiece and Gray grabbed 10 rebounds for Grambling.
Arkansas Pine Bluff def Mississippi Valley State 64-62
PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Marcel Mosley hit four three pointers and scored 20 points to lead Arkansas-Pine Bluff to a 64-62 win over Jackson State on Monday night.
Ghiavonni Robinson and Thaddeus Handley Jr. added 11 points apiece, and Tevin Hammond had nine points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals for UAPB (11-20, 8-9).
The Golden Lions led 39-30 at halftime and held off Jackson State (10-19, 8-8) to win their second game in a row.
Janarius Middleton led Jackson State with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Kaven Bernard added 15, five rebounds and five assists, while Yettra Specks had nine points and eight rebounds.
The Tigers hold a half-game lead over UAPB for the No. 4 seed in the SWAC tournament. Jackson State will host Alabama A&M on Thursday and Alabama State on Saturday to close the regular season. The Golden Lions wrap up conference play at Mississippi Valley State.
SWAC.org