HOUSTON — Deverell Biggs stepped in after Malcolm Riley was injured on a flagrant foul and made two free throws with 27 seconds left, Madarious Gibbs added another and Texas Southern beat Southern 62-58 on Saturday in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.
Riley was unable to shoot about being fouled by Trelun Banks, who was ejected.
Riley led the Tigers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Gibbs, the conference player of the year, went 4 for 15 from the field and finished with 12 points in the game.
Freshman forward Jared Sam scored 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Jaguars. Tre Lynch missed a three pointer with 2.9 seconds to go that would have given Southern the lead.
The Jaguars hit six of their first 10 shots of the second half to move into the lead, with Sam scoring six quick points from both inside and out.
The Tigers sputtered out of the locker, scoring just six points in the first nine minutes of the second half.
Neither team took more than a five-point lead at any time during the first 20 minutes as both were nearly identical down the stat sheet.
TSU won the conference tournament and earned an NCAA berth last season.
This marks the second time in TSU history the team will go to the tournament in back-to-back years, earning bids in 1994 and 1995.
SWAC.org
