ITTA BENA, Miss. -- Rakim Hollis scored 28 points and hit a 3-pointer
with a second left to give Texas Southern, seeded eighth, a 59-58 upset of
Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic
Conference Tournament on Tuesday night.
The Tigers (7-21) rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half. Hollis
hit a 3 with 12 seconds left to cut the Delta Devils' lead to 57-56.
After Ashley Robinson made one of two free throws to extend the lead to two,
Hollis hit his sixth 3-pointer to give Texas Southern its first lead of the
game, 59-58.
Chris Miller added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers, who snapped the
second-seeded Delta Devils' eight-game winning streak.
D'Jamal Jackson led Mississippi Valley State (18-9) with 13 points and Henry
Jordan scored 12. The Delta Devils had been unbeaten at home (12-0) this
season.
Hollis was 6-for-7 from 3-point range and played all 40 minutes. Miller and
Marquel Timmons also played the entire game for Texas Southern.
Both teams shot poorly, with Texas Southern making 35 percent to Mississippi
Valley State's 34 percent.
DeWayne Jefferson added 10 points for the Delta Devils, who hosted the
first-round SWAC game as the higher seed. Game summary
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Tyrone Levett was 11-for-17 and scored 27 points as
Alabama State defeated Prairie View A&M.
Alabama State (20-8) advances to the tournament semifinal at 7:30 p.m.
Friday at Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham.
All five starters for Alabama State finished in double figures. The Hornets,
regular season SWAC champions, held only a two-point lead at halftime, but
outscored the Panthers 53-36 in the second half.
Keith Gamble was 4-for-5 on 3-point shots and scored 22 points for the
Hornets. Tobarie Burton added 12 and Joey Ball and Alvin Pettway each added 10.
Levett also had 11 rebounds for Alabama State.
Prairie View (6-22) had five players score in double figures, led by Jamar
Miles with 15 points. Sadit Montgomery added 13, Xavier Lee and Reginald Walton
each had 11 and Ray Lark had 10.
LORMAN, Miss. -- Marcus Fleming scored 20 points to lead five players in
double digits as Alcorn State defeated Jackson State.
Jason Cable had 17 points for the third-seeded Braves (14-14), who shot 52
percent from the floor and made 10 of 16 3-point shots.
Richard Bradley led No. 6 Jackson State with 29 points on 12-for-19 shooting
and Kendell Noel had 17 points. The Tigers (7-23) were the defending SWAC
tournament champions.
Alcorn State had a 50-25 lead at half, as Jackson State hit just 25 percent
of its shots in the opening half.
Tori Harris scored 11 points for the Braves and Jeff Cammon and Brian
Jackson each had 10. Alcorn State outrebounded Jackson State 46-29 and had 26
assists.
Alcorn State will play Texas Southern in the SWAC semifinals Friday in
Birmingham.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Brian Johnson, who was averaging 13.9 points per
game, scored 25 as Southern University beat Grambling State.
Southern (11-15), which split with the Tigers during the regular season,
also held a 34-22 foulshooting advantage in a game in which 57 fouls were
called -- 32 against Grambling (8-18).
Southern, which led 39-31 at halftime, made 13-of-29 field goal attempts
(44.8 percent) in the second half to outdistance Grambling, which fell to 27.6
field goal accuracy (11-of-40) in the second half.
Courtney Henderson added 16 points for Southern and Zebton Wells had 12.
Darious Whiteside and Randy Hymes led Grambling with 13 points each, and
Paul Haynes added 11.
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