Jackson State 67, Alabama A&M 66
JACKSON, Miss. — Raeford Worsham hit the first of two free throws with 1:38 left to give Jackson State a five-point lead and the Tigers held on to turn away Alabama A&M 67-66 in a SWAC showdown on Monday night.
Tyler Davis hit the first of a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left in the game to cut Jackson State’s lead to one, 67-66, but Alabama A&M could not get a jumper by Ladarius Tabb or a three pointer by Rakiya Battle to fall in the final three seconds.
Worsham finished with 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Tigers (7-8, 2-0). Chace Franklin and Kaven Bernard added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Jacob Perry had 18 points to lead Alabama A&M (5-9, 0-2), with Tabb and Nicholas West adding 10 and 11 points, respectively.
GRAMBLING, La. –Remond Brown scored 23 points, and Michael Bethea Jr. made a three pointer late in overtime to help Grambling State beat Alabama State 84-81 Monday night.
Grambling State (4-9, 2-0) has won in consecutive games for the first time since 2011.
Terrance LeFlore’s layup put Alabama State up 79-77 with 2:08 left in overtime. But Bethea drilled a three pointer, and Nigel Ribeiro and Mark Gray combined to hit 4 of 6 free throws to ice it.
Deonte Hearns had 14 points and 14 boards for Grambling State. Ribeiro and Gray both finished with 14 points.
Steve Rogers led Alabama State (5-9, 0-2) with 19 points. Corvon Butler added 12 points and 12 boards.
Hearns made 1 of 2 from the foul line to put Grambling up 71-69 with six seconds to go in regulation. Tony Armstrong grabbed the rebound and fed Jamel Waters, who went coast-to-coast for a layup, forcing overtime.
Mississippi Valley State 66, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 60
ITTA BENA, Miss. — Marcus Romain scored 20 points and Mississippi Valley State won its first game of the season, 66-60, over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Monday night.
The Delta Devils (1-14, 1-0) had lost 14 in a row by an average of 22 points per game to open the 2015-16 campaign, all of which came on the road.
Prairie View A&M 71, Southern 65
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Jayrn Johnson made 7 for 10 from the field and his 21 points in 21 minutes off the bench led Prairie View A&M past Southern 71-65 Monday night.
Zachary Hamilton finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Admassu Williams had 10 points and six boards for Prairie View (1-13, 1-1).
Southern (8-7, 0-2) got 16 points apiece from Trelun Banks and Christopher Hyder, while Adrian Rodgers scored 15.
Williams’ layup with 17:29 to play gave Prairie View a 40-29 lead, but the Jaguars used a 15-6 run over the next seven-plus minutes, and cut the lead to 46-44 on Banks’ 3-point play with 9:52 left.
But with 4:19 to go, Johnson buried a 3 to push the lead to 62-53 to seal the game.
Prairie View’s bench outscored Southern’s 35-9. With the loss, Southern fell to 0-2 in conference for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
The Panthers snapped a 14-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Texas Southern 74, Alcorn State 58
HOUSTON, Texas — Jose Rodriguez made 10 of 12 free throws and finished with 18 points to help Texas Southern beat Alcorn State 74-58 Monday night.
Orlando Coleman, Chris Thomas and Malcolm Riley added 12 points each, while Derrick Griffin and David Blanks scored 10 apiece for Texas Southern (3-11, 2-0). Griffin, a freshman, also pulled 13 rebounds, giving him five double-doubles in eight career games.
Alcorn State (3-10, 1-1) trailed by just three, 32-29, at halftime, but the Tigers used a 23-6 run to open the second half, pushing their lead to 20 on Riley’s putback of a missed three by Coleman with 11:46 remaining.
The Braves never threatened for the rest of the game.
Texas Southern made 10 of 25 from 3-point range; the Tigers have made 23 3s in their two conference games this season. Octavious Brown led Alcorn State with 19 points and a season-high 11 rebounds.
