Alcorn drops SWAC opener to Prairie View
Published 8:25 pm Monday, January 1, 2018
Alcorn State’s men’s basketball team did not have a very happy New Year’s Day.
Dennis Jones totaled 15 points and 10 assists, while Zachary Hamilton and Austin Starr scored 12 points each to lead Prairie View A&M to a 76-64 win over Alcorn State in the Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Monday.
Alcorn (4-10, 0-1 SWAC) had won two of its previous three games.
Dante Sterling led the Braves with 17 points and Maurice Howard came off the bench to score 11, but the Braves were hurt by their own mistakes. They committed 20 turnovers, shot just 36.5 percent (19-for-52) from the field, and were outrebounded 39-30 by Prairie View (4-11, 1-0).
Gary Blackston added 13 points for Prairie View. The Panthers led 38-31 at halftime and then pulled away in the second half. After Alcorn’s Tyler Carter hit two free throws to cut it to 41-37 with 16:52 left, Hamilton hit a 3-pointer to spark an 11-2 run for Prairie View.
Starr’s 3-pointer capped the run and made it 52-39 with 14:03 remaining.Alcorn never got it back within single digits, and the deficit got as high as 17 points down the stretch.
Alcorn will continue its Texas road trip Wednesday at Texas Southern, and then will host Jackson State Saturday at 5:30 p.m.