BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — All the way to the end, the No. 1 seed Southern University Jaguars let the Southwestern Athletic Conference fans in attendance know why they are the champions as they defeated the No. 5 seed Jackson State 66-59 to move on to the championship round against Arkansas Pine-Bluff on tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The game will televised live on ESPNU.
“We lost to an outstanding Southern University basketball team,” said Jackson’s coach Tevester Anderson. “The most outstanding team classified in our conference, they are a real balanced with excellent inside play and they have really strong guard play. Their inside-outside play is throughout the best in our league.”
Jackson’s sophomore guard Catraiva Givens came into the second half shooting a 3, but the Jags junior guard Deforrest Riley-Smith answered back with one of his own making the score 36-30. Then the Jags went on an 8-0 run causing Jackson to call timeout with 15:11 remaining.
When Jackson’s senior forward’s Hilton Tompkins and Ernest Hassell made lay-up’s the Tigers moved from an eight-point difference to four with 9:14 left. A power dunk by Jags senior forward Peter Cipriano moved the score within eight, 54-46 with 4:35 left on the clock. The Tigers went on an 11-0 run on the Jags making the score 61-59 putting a tight squeeze on Southern’s lead with 1:10 remaining.
Two much needed free throws by freshmen guard Steffon Wiley put the Jags at 63-59, but the pass to senior guard Chris Alexander for the lay-up tipped in by Cipriano gave the final shot for the Jags win.
Junior guard Trey Johnson finished the game with 16 points, Givens had 12, and Tompkins had 9.
“I thought we played an outstanding basketball game tonight,” said Southern head coach Rob Spivery. “We played with toughness, we played with poised. During the closing minutes of the game I thought Jackson State did an excellent job of forcing some action and playing tough with us.”
The Jaguars started and ended the first half dominating the boards. Southern went on a 10-0 run on the Tigers before Jackson called a timeout. Jackson’s junior guard Julius Young made a lay-up moving the score 19-12, then Jaguars senior guard Alvin Mott’s jumper and free throws moved the Jags to a 10-point lead 22-12.
The Tigers not regressing sought out the Jags flaws of missed shots and went on a 3-0 run moving the game within two-points with 1:32 remaining. In the final seconds the Tigers try to inbound the ball, but couldn’t get their hands on it before it went out bounds giving the Jags possession. A lay up by Alexander assisted by senior forward Ralph Hishaw brought fans to an uproar giving the halftime score 33-27.
“I really think we’re an very unselfish team,” Riley-Smith said. “We’re a really good group of kids, we deserve this and we just going to go out and show other people.”
Alexander led the Jaguars with 16 points; Riley-Smith finished with 13 points including 2-for-3 from behind the arch. Cipriano had 10 points and nine rebounds; while senior guard Brandon Wardlow contributed a pleasing nine points.
“When you fall behind like that to a fine team like Southern University catching up will be tough,” coach Anderson said. “Cause they execute their offense real well and they play their best and they rebound the ball well.”
