Jaguars hold off Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Southern men’s basketball team can’t win the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship this season.
But after Monday’s scintillating 55-53 victory at Alabama State, the Jaguars are zeroing in on a second-place finish — which is plenty more than anyone expected. Including the team itself.
Before a crowd of 1,224 inside the Dunn-Oliver Acadome, shooting guard Derick Beltran hit a jumper with 2:02 remaining to give Southern a two-point lead, and the Jaguars held off ASU the rest of the way.
Beltran, still nursing a sprained ankle, logged 37 minutes and led all scorers with 22 points, and Quinton Doggett added 18 points and three blocks as Southern won on the road for the second time in three days.
The Jaguars also defeated Alabama A&M 72-65 in Normal, Ala., on Saturday.
Monday’s win clinched Southern’s first season sweep over Alabama State since 2002-03.
Since that season, the Hornets were 15-4 against SU, including a 10-game winning streak that stretched over five seasons.
Monday night, the Jaguars won by limiting turnovers (they committed 10) and playing solid defense. Although the Hornets had a 40-30 edge in rebounds, they shot 36 percent from the floor and attempted only six free throws in the second half.
Aside from Beltran and Doggett, no Southern player scored more than five points, and point guard Jameel Grace — also nursing a high ankle sprain — had no points and three assists in only 16 minutes.
Freshman backup Thomas Marshall had four points and a team-high four assists in 22 minutes Monday.
Tramaine Butler scored 18 points for Alabama State (10-16, 7-7), which held a six-point lead at halftime but couldn’t hold on.
No other players scored in double figures for the Hornets, who shot only 33 percent from the floor in the second half.
Ivory White grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
As for the SWAC race, the Jaguars (15-13, 11-4) cannot catch up to Mississippi Valley State, which clinched the outright regular-season championship Monday in Itta Bena, Miss., when Paul Crosby hit a game-winning shot to hold off Texas Southern, 56-53.
That kept the Delta Devils undefeated after 15 games in SWAC play.
The Jaguars, of course, are banned from playing in next month’s conference tournament, thanks to a low Academic Progress Rate that resulted in an NCAA postseason ban.
Southern submitted a waiver request asking the NCAA to reconsider, but the governing body announced earlier this month that it would not hear the appeal.
At any rate, the Jaguars — who won a total of six conference games over the past two years — kept playing hard under first-year coach Roman Banks, and more often than not, they kept winning.
Southern, with three games remaining, has a 1.5-game lead on Texas Southern for second place.
The Jaguars wrap up their season with a trip to Alcorn State on Saturday, followed by a two-game homestand against Texas Southern and Prairie View.