Another ONE bites the dust!

Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – At Fair Park Arena in front of 696 fans, no.8 seed the Alcorn State Braves men’s basketball team claimed a 67-66 victory to upset top seed Mississippi Valley State in the final quarterfinal game on Thursday.
“We executed our game plan, it was to give Forbes and Norwood as few looks as we can,” said Alcorn State head coach Samuel West. “It was part of our game plan.”
The Braves defense held Delta Devils’ junior forward Soloman Forbes to nine points, he went 3-for-12 from the field and shot 3-for-7 from three-point range. Senior forward Attarrius Norwood shot 4-of-13. During the season, Forbes averages 14.2 points per game and Norwood, the SWAC player of the year, averaged 14.5.
“I reminded my team that the lower seeds were winning,” said Mississippi Valley head coach Lafayette Stribling. “I knew it was anybody’s tournament.”
With a history of disappointing first place teams, the Braves brought in experts to assess the situation.
Alcorn senior forward Brian Jackson, a Baker High product, has visited the tournament three years in a row is a veteran in the game.
“Its nothing new to me, ever since I’ve been here we have been upsetting a lot of teams,” said Jackson.
Senior forward Dion Callans is another three-year veteran on the Braves team scoring seven points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Last year, the Braves defeated the no.1 seed Prairie View in the semi-finals game 71-64; they went on to loose in the finals to Texas Southern by 77-68. Dion Callans scored the game high of 23 points against the Panthers.
Also in the 2001-02 season the Braves won the SWAC tournament beating Alabama A&M 70-65 to go on to the NCAA tournament where they lost to Siena from New York 77-81.
The Braves will have another chance to taste victory again when they face Alabama A&M Friday at 7:30 p.m. in semifinal game action.