Another First Four appearance, another win for Texas Southern.
Bryson Etienne scored 21 points and Texas Southern held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to just two field goals over the final seven minutes of the second half to pull out a 76-67 win to open the NCAA Tournament Tuesday night.
The SWAC champions earned their third NCAA Tournament win in five seasons and will play top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest first round on Thursday.
Tigers guard PJ Henry hit a go-ahead free throw to highlight a 7-0 run in which Texas Southern took the lead and never surrendered. He finished with 14 points and shot 10 of 13 at the free-throw line.
John Walker III added 16 points for Texas Southern and Brison Gresham grabbed 13 rebounds and scored six points.
Also read: HBCU basketball teams that have won an NCAA Tournament game
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-12) led by as many as four points in the second half before going on a 16-7 run to claim a lead it would not give up.
Trevian Tennyson led the Islanders with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting while Simeon Fryer scored 12 and Terrion Murdix added 10.
The Tigers led 32-30 at halftime after trailing for over 10 minutes in the first half. Both teams shot below 40% from the field in the opening period, combining for 15 turnovers and seven steals.
