Box Score
BIRMINGHAM,Ala. – AlabamaA&M, the No.1 seed out defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the No. 8 seed with64-52, to advance to the semifinals of the 2005 Southwestern Athletic ConferenceTournament in Birmingham, Ala.
AlabamaA&M (12-6) came in against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-12) as regular seasonconference champions but suffered two loses to UAPB, on Jan.10 with 62-60 andon Feb. 7 with 75-74 against Alabama A&M.
A&M finallygot a win over the Golden Lions.
“We made afew adjustments defensively, I think that helped us get over the hump,” saidAlabama A&M’s head coach L. Vann Pettaway. “In the first two meetings all we did was come down thestretch, we changed our trap zones where we trap them.”
This wasArkansas-Pine Bluff first tournament appearance since rejoining the SWAC in1997.
“I’m veryproud of my team. I thought theyfought extremely hard,” said Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach Van Holt. “We made a lot of mistakes but we stillhad the opportunity to overcome those mistakes.”
AlabamaA&M dominated the entire game and the majority of the first half. Two final free throws by AlabamaA&M’s Kevin Smith and Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Larry Williams gives the halftime score of 41-30.
AlabamaA&M had its biggest lead of 18 points in the second half. UAPB’s guardLarry Williams made a three and then a foul, to close the led to 62-52 with 47seconds remaining. Alabama A&M’sMarcus Jones and Marcus Young added a free throw each to give the final scoreof 64-52.
“Ourintensity wasn’t quite were it should have been, maybe that’s because we neverbeen to a SWAC tournament before,” said Holt.
Arkansas-PineBluff’s Larry Williams scored 15 points and Tamarius Brown had 11 points. “We just wasn’t focused,” said Brown.
“I believewe didn’t attack the pressure like we did in the previous two games,” saidWilliams.
Alabama’sA&M’s Obie Trotter, SWAC’s Player of the Year, scored nine points. Leading Alabama A&M in scoring wasMarcus Young with 13 points and Andre Matthews had 10 points.
“The firsttwo games we didn’t play very well, we came in ‘lax. They played hard with intensity,” said Trotter. “This game we came with intensity wewanted to win this game.”
AlabamaA&M will play against Jackson State, Friday, March 11 at 5 p.m. in thesemifinals.
“In atournament the first game is always the toughest one,” said Pettaway. “We didn’t play well as a team. But wellenough to win.”
