ALCORNITE 86
Retired Soldier
Guess What Is Coming To The Magic City?
Braves blast Tigers, move to semifinals
By Tim Doherty
Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer
Joe Ellis / The Clarion-Ledger
Alcorn State's Lee Cook drives in for a slam dunk during the Braves' victory over Grambling Tuesday night in the first round of the SWAC Tournament. Alcorn claimed a108-84 victory.
LORMAN ? For the third time in four years, Alcorn State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Tuesday night at Whitney Complex, the Braves got off to a good start in their quest to add a 2002 SWAC Tournament crown to their trophy case as well.
Forward Marcus Fleming scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half as the Braves ran away from Grambling State after halftime to claim a 108-84 victory in the opening round of the SWACTournament.
In winning its fifth consecutive game, Alcorn, 19-9, will advance to Friday's semifinals in Fair Park Arena at Birmingham, where the top-seeded Braves will meet fourth-seeded Texas Southern, 11-16.
The semifinal winners advance to Saturday's title game, with the champion earning a spot in the 65-team NCAA Tournament field.
With a CBS camera crew in town to shoot advance footage for its annual documentary "The Ultimate Road to the Final Four," the lure of reaching the NCAAs for the first time since 1999 is exerting a strong tug on the Braves.
But Alcorn's players said they will not look past anyone along the way.
"We've been on a roll so far, but this next game, we're just looking forward to doing the same things we did tonight," said Fleming, who grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to help Alcorn finish unbeaten at home for the third time in four seasons. "If we can do that, we should be successful through this whole tournament."
What the Braves did Tuesday was hit the boards hard, shoot well from the field and hunker down on defense to spark decisive runs in the game. Alcorn shot 51.4 percent, including 57.1 percent in the second half, and out-rebounded Grambling 41-34.
"We played in spurts," said Alcorn coach Dave Whitney, who is looking to make his sixth trip to the NCAAs with the Braves.
"We didn't play a total, complete game, but the spurts were enough to propel us to victory."
Each team had four players score 10 or more points, with forward Brian Jackson adding 14 and guard Tori Harris and forward Lee Cook with 13 each for Alcorn. Point guard Jeff Cammon finished with seven points and 12 assists.
Grambling, 9-19, was led by center Will McDonald, who had 22 points and seven rebounds. Forward Paul Haynes, the SWAC's player of the year, added 17, while forwards Antoine McKinsey and Ron Ellis added 14 each.
But Alcorn's bench proved deeper, with the Braves getting 52 points from its reserves while Grambling was getting 25. Whitney played 13 players in the game.
The first half saw the Braves sandwich two, telling runs around a back-and-forth slugging match. Alcorn jumped out to a 15-5 lead, only to see the Tigers ? behind the play of Haynes and McDonald ? reel the Braves back. The Grambling duo combined for 25 of the Tigers' first-half points.
Alcorn saw its lead shrink to 36-34 on an Ellis jumper with 2:43 to play in the half, but sparked by five points by center Walter Harper and four by Harris, Alcorn closed the half on a 13-2 run to take a 49-36 lead into the locker room.
"We set our goals, to win the conference regular-season championship, and we accomplished that," Whitney said. "Now, we're setting our goals where we can win the tournament and go to the NCAAs.
"That would be a great thing for our kids. Some of them have never been. It's a great experience, and something they'll never forget. It's something I'll never forget."
Braves blast Tigers, move to semifinals
By Tim Doherty
Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer
Joe Ellis / The Clarion-Ledger
Alcorn State's Lee Cook drives in for a slam dunk during the Braves' victory over Grambling Tuesday night in the first round of the SWAC Tournament. Alcorn claimed a108-84 victory.
LORMAN ? For the third time in four years, Alcorn State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Tuesday night at Whitney Complex, the Braves got off to a good start in their quest to add a 2002 SWAC Tournament crown to their trophy case as well.
Forward Marcus Fleming scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half as the Braves ran away from Grambling State after halftime to claim a 108-84 victory in the opening round of the SWACTournament.
In winning its fifth consecutive game, Alcorn, 19-9, will advance to Friday's semifinals in Fair Park Arena at Birmingham, where the top-seeded Braves will meet fourth-seeded Texas Southern, 11-16.
The semifinal winners advance to Saturday's title game, with the champion earning a spot in the 65-team NCAA Tournament field.
With a CBS camera crew in town to shoot advance footage for its annual documentary "The Ultimate Road to the Final Four," the lure of reaching the NCAAs for the first time since 1999 is exerting a strong tug on the Braves.
But Alcorn's players said they will not look past anyone along the way.
"We've been on a roll so far, but this next game, we're just looking forward to doing the same things we did tonight," said Fleming, who grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to help Alcorn finish unbeaten at home for the third time in four seasons. "If we can do that, we should be successful through this whole tournament."
What the Braves did Tuesday was hit the boards hard, shoot well from the field and hunker down on defense to spark decisive runs in the game. Alcorn shot 51.4 percent, including 57.1 percent in the second half, and out-rebounded Grambling 41-34.
"We played in spurts," said Alcorn coach Dave Whitney, who is looking to make his sixth trip to the NCAAs with the Braves.
"We didn't play a total, complete game, but the spurts were enough to propel us to victory."
Each team had four players score 10 or more points, with forward Brian Jackson adding 14 and guard Tori Harris and forward Lee Cook with 13 each for Alcorn. Point guard Jeff Cammon finished with seven points and 12 assists.
Grambling, 9-19, was led by center Will McDonald, who had 22 points and seven rebounds. Forward Paul Haynes, the SWAC's player of the year, added 17, while forwards Antoine McKinsey and Ron Ellis added 14 each.
But Alcorn's bench proved deeper, with the Braves getting 52 points from its reserves while Grambling was getting 25. Whitney played 13 players in the game.
The first half saw the Braves sandwich two, telling runs around a back-and-forth slugging match. Alcorn jumped out to a 15-5 lead, only to see the Tigers ? behind the play of Haynes and McDonald ? reel the Braves back. The Grambling duo combined for 25 of the Tigers' first-half points.
Alcorn saw its lead shrink to 36-34 on an Ellis jumper with 2:43 to play in the half, but sparked by five points by center Walter Harper and four by Harris, Alcorn closed the half on a 13-2 run to take a 49-36 lead into the locker room.
"We set our goals, to win the conference regular-season championship, and we accomplished that," Whitney said. "Now, we're setting our goals where we can win the tournament and go to the NCAAs.
"That would be a great thing for our kids. Some of them have never been. It's a great experience, and something they'll never forget. It's something I'll never forget."
