Grambling State 78, Texas Southern 55
HOUSTON, TX. – Four players reached double figures in scoring as the Grambling State University men’s basketball team extended its win streak to 10 games with a 78-55 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) victory over Texas Southern on Monday night at the Health and Physical Education Arena.
Grambling State (14-12 overall, 10-3 SWAC) shot 54.8 percent in the first half and led by as many as 25 points as GSU took a 41-19 advantage into the break. Texas Southern (7-18, 7-5) cut the big first-half Grambling State to nine points in the second half, but could not get any closer.
Ivy Smith, Jr., who was the SWAC College Sports Madness Player of the Week on Monday, paced Grambling State with 22 points, with seven rebounds, three assists and one steal. DeVante Jackson registered 12 points, three boards and one steal, while Axel Mpoyo tallied a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Shirmane Thomas chipped in with 10 points and four rebounds.
Donte Clark led Texas Southern with 19 points, six boards, five assists, three steals and one steal, while Demontrae Jefferson registered 16 points, three assists and a pair of rebounds. Marquis Salmon chipped in with 10 points and six boards.
Southern 55, Mississippi Valley State 51
BATON ROUGE, LA – Jared Sam led four Jaguars who reached double digits in scoring with 18 points and 15 rebounds for his conference-leading 12th double-double effort as host Southern picked up the win at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
Jamar Sandifer made a key 3-pointer in the final 1:16 and finished with 12 points, Eddie Reese added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists while Christopher Thomas chipped in with 10 points for the Jaguars (12-14, 8-5 SWAC).
Dante Scott led the Delta Devils (2-24, 2-11 SWAC) with 24 points and seven rebounds.
Alcorn State 84, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 52
LORMAN, MS – Arkansas-Pine Bluff entered the night in first-place in the SWAC standings, but the Golden Lions were no match for the Alcorn State University men’s basketball program Monday evening as the Braves tallied a convincing 84-52 win at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
Alcorn (9-17, 5-8 SWAC) played a complete-game as it outscored UAPB (9-18, 9-4 SWAC) by 14 in the first half and 18 in the second. The Braves shot a season-high .579 from the field and .545 from three-point range, and held the Golden Lions to .352 shooting and .240 from beyond-the-arc.
The Braves dominated the glass where they outrebounded UAPB 40-25. Alcorn also held a large edge in points in the paint 40-22.
Senior A.J. Mosby paved the way with 22 points and four assists. He was 9-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range. Junior Dante Sterling totaled 15 points and four assists. Also in double-figures, sophomore Maurice Howard recorded 14 points and six assists, while sophomore Devon Brewer registered 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds. The unsung hero of the match was senior James Stokes who made his first appearance in seven games. Stokes entered in the second half and racked up eight points, three steals and two rebounds which got the crowd fired up in 11 minutes of action. His previous career-high in scoring was two points. For UAPB, Martaveous McKnight carried the team with 29 points which was more than half of their scoring. Trent Steen aided the attack with 14 points.
Prairie View A&M 63, Jackson State 58 (OT)
PRAIRIE VIEW, TX – The Prairie View A&M men’s basketball team defeated Jackson State University 63-58 in overtime Monday evening at the William J. Nicks Building in SWAC action in front of a national televised audience on ESPNU.
The game was highly competitive with 10 ties and a dozen lead changes. The contest was quite the defensive struggle with neither team shooting better than 26 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and with each team turning the ball over more than 15 times.
Zachary Hamilton made five free throws and Dennis Jones added two more in the overtime period to lift the Panthers.
Jones led the Panthers (10-16, 7-5 SWAC) in scoring with 22 points on 47 percent shooting from the field. Hamilton tallied 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, while J.D. Wallace registered seven points and pulled down 14 rebounds as he played all 45 minutes of the contest.
Paris Collins led the Tigers (10-16, 7-6 SWAC) with 19 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Treshawn Bolden added 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor, nine rebounds and four assists.
Courtesy: SWAC
