It was a close game from tip off. The score was tied seven times, andthere were 13 lead changes.
But Southern’s men’s basketball team could not get one of their two timeouts with three seconds left on the clock for a chance to grab a SouthwesternAthletic Conference victory.
The missed call left a sour mood in the atmosphere that a minute beforewas alive with 1,286 excited fans.
”I thought she (refereeMelanie Davis) blew the whistle and we had time left on the clock,” saidSouthern head coach Michael Grant. ”I said, ‘This is a TV game why don’t you check the monitor?’ ‘No, gameover.’ That was her wholeexplanation, ‘Game over.’ Nochecking the clock, which on a TV game if there’s a question you’re suppose tocheck the clock at the end of the ball game — as the head official and she didnot do that she refused to do that. That’s not good refereeing but at the same time we dug ourselves in thishole tonight.”
Obie Trotter scored 19 points, guard Rick Ricketts added 18, and JosephMartin recorded 14 points to help the SWAC’s No. 1 ranked Alabama A&M(14-10, 11-3) defeat Southern 80-77, on Monday in the F. G. Clark ActivityCenter.
Alabama A&M shot 51.9 percent and Southern (12-12,9-6) made 47.6percent of their baskets.
The Jaguars out-rebounded the Bulldogs 41-to-33.
Southern trailed twice, the first time by as much as eight points with12:05 left to play and six points with 4:27 on the clock.
They scored five straight points before the Bulldogs led by one point,77-78 with 2:44 left in regulation.
In that time the Bulldogs forced two turnovers and the Jaguars blew achance at the free throw line.
A layup by Ricketts with 32 seconds left pushed the score to 80-77.
“It was a great game,” said Alabama A&M head coach VannPettaway. “If we hit foul shots Idon’t think we would have come down to that. My team was playing some defense when it needs it. They onlyturned the ball over 16 times, but they had a couple of crucial turnovers downthe stretch.”
The Bulldogs had 13 turnovers and the Jaguars recorded 16.
Davis is the first female to call a men’s National Collegiate AthleticAssociation tournament game.
The SU men’s basketball team will face Alcorn State University onSaturday at 7:30 p.m. in the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
