Toughing It Out: Jaguars Escape a Nail biter

On Monday, the Southern University Men’s Basketball team (14 -14, 10-5 conf.) hosted a tough and relentless ball club in the Hornets of Alabama State (8-17, 6-8), with hopes of extending their home wining streak to two games.         The Jags, currently 3^rd in conference play, are coming off a 13-point win against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on last Saturday night. Though the Jags played well, they almost allowed this win to slip away. Fortunately for the Jags, a couple of last minute field goals secured their conference win, topping the Hornets 79-73.
In the first six minutes of play, both teams struggled to get the upper hand. However, after 2 consecutive free throws by Guard Shawn Prudhomme to bring his team ahead (13-11) and force turnovers by the Jags defense, they were able to maintain a steady offensive flow to go up at halftime by 8 (39-31).
 SU remained consistent, starting off the second half with a 20-2 run in what seemed to be a one-sided affair. Unfortunately for the Jags, timely turnovers, lack of rebounding and second chance points allowed the Hornets to buzz their way back into the game. Slowly creeping up for a chance to take the lead, ASU found themselves within 2 (73-75) with fifty-six seconds left to go. Due to an untimely technical foul committed by ASU during the Jags possession with 19 seconds left to go, Guard Tre’lun Banks knocked down back to back free throws to increase the lead by 4 (77-73). Banks finished the game with 2 steals and a healthy dose of assists (6). 
Head Coach Roman Banks feels as though the team is a work in progress and that they have much to learn going into in their final games.
“This team, I feel we still need to work on our physical brand of ball…we still have a chance to grow and get better. We need to be better our next game than how we were this game,” said Banks. 
Even though the Jags were able to walk away with the win, the Hornets didn’t stop fighting in the second half. The Jags turnover margin grew while the Hornets earned consecutive offensive rebounds and second chance points, which led to potential 3-point plays. Banks explained that the reason for the sudden last chance run made by the Hornets in the final four minutes of the game was due to the result of a lack of protecting the ball and securing rebounds. Banks also acknowledged the fact that their opponents are pretty tenacious at collectively gathering rebounds on both ends.
“We didn’t actually rebound the ball well…we know that they are a great rebounding team and very physical,” said Banks.
 In the final moments of the game Prudhomme played through a foul while scoring the game sealing basket. Prudhomme ended the game with 18 points and 5 rebounds while Guard Chris Thomas led all scorers with a career high of 19 points. Thomas also added 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks to his stats.
When asked about the last minutes of play, Thomas replied, “We just weather the storm…we made some plays at the end and fortunately we pulled through.”