Everything but a Win: Top seeded Southern loses season series to Grambling State

This past Saturday, the Southern University Jaguars men’s basketball team took on their archrival Grambling State University. The Jaguars came into the game undefeated at home and had won four of the last five games. The Jaguars also came into the game leading the SWAC and looking to avenge the loss the last time they faced the Tigers off 77-83. It was Alumni Night, and the crowd was nothing short of excitement.
The Jaguars would get started fast with an 8-0 run forcing Grambling to take a timeout. The Jaguars sophomore guard Jayden Saddler hit three of his first four shots during that stretch. Out of that time out, the Jaguars would go on another 8-3 run, forcing Grambling to take another timeout, and the momentum was in full swing for the Jags. However, Grambling found some momentum to make the game 31-23 at halftime.
Southern came out of the half a little slow but eventually got it going, but the lead never really grew.. On the other hand, Grambling wasn’t going away, and they continued to make strategic adjustments. The final ten minutes were up in the air, with Southern leading 41-42. Sophomore guard Brendon Brooks came out of the timeout with a 3-pointer to try and give the Jags some momentum.
Not long after, Junior guard P.J. Byrd hit a three, extending the lead and getting the crowd off their feet. With 7 minutes remaining, Brendon Brooks hit a massive 3-pointer that seemed to take the steam away from Grambling, with the Jags leading 53-43.
The game’s final minutes seemed like it was clear the Jags would get revenge and win, but the Tigers came back strong. The Jags at the line would have a couple of critical misses that would hurt in the end, as it allowed Grambling to make it a two-point game with 2:30 remaining. Then, with 13 seconds left, the Tigers would hit a daggering three-pointer to steal the moment at the Mini-Dome. The Jags couldn’t recover and would end up losing 61-57. So we asked Coach Woods about the game, and his response was humbling “We did everything but win the game. Give Grambling credit for sticking in there, but we didn’t take care of business on the offensive end,” said head basketball coach Sean Woods.
Junior guard Tyrone Lyons led Southern to lead the team with 13 Points, with Jayden Saddler and P.J. Byrd making contributions from a scoring and assisting POV as well. The Jags finished the game shooting 28% from the field and 24% from three. On the other hand, Southern still leads the SWAC over Texas Southern and will face Bethune Cookman next at home on February 26th at 5:30 PM.