BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alvin Mott scored 14 points as Southern breezed pass Alcorn 73-52.
The win advances the top ranked Jaguars to the Southwestern Athletic Conference quarterfinals tomorrow against Jackson State at 7:30.
Alcorn (8-20) the No. 8 seed just couldn’t match up with the Jaguars (17-12) Thursday night at the BJCC Arena.
“I thought the defensive effort tonight in the first half and rebounding really set the tone in the game for us,” Southern coach Rob Spivery. “And that generated some points for us offensively and we were able to build a lead there at halftime and we maintained that throughout the second half.”
Deforrest Riley-Smith scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and senior guard Chris Alexander chipped in 11 points in 18 minutes for the SWAC conference champions.
After a slow start in the first half Southern took runs of 21-0 and 10-3.
At 15:35 Alexander hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to take a 7-6 lead that initiated the first huge 21-0 run. During the span that lasted 7:35 the Jags grabbed offensive rebounds, shot put backs and added short jumpers that went cleanly through the nets.
Ralph Hishaw did a flying catch in the air over a defender and tipped the ball in for a 16-6 lead with 12:02 left. Just like Hishaw’s leap midway from the half court line, the Jaguars played cool and under control. Brandon Wardlow came off the bench to get in action. He grabbed a steal and dribbled in for a jumper to up the Jags 21-6 at 9:45.
Defensively, the Jaguars knocked down shots totaling three blocks. Cipriano swatted two jumpers in the first half and forced the Braves into nine turnovers.
Southern led 37-17 at halftime.
In the second half Southern kept its same intensity and continued to bury Alcorn.
The Jaguars made 45.2 percent of their shots, while Alcorn could only get 28.6 percent of their shots to fall. The Braves missed several shots in the paint under the basket; only scoring 14 points in the paint, while Southern scored 42 points in the paint.
“We ended our regular season on a good note and we wanted to come into this tournament on a good note,” Alexander said.
