SWAC Tournament
Round 1#5 seed Southern—75; #12 seed Jackson State—70 (PoG: Todd Grays—19 pts, 5 ast)
#6 seed Texas Southern—81, #11 seed Arkansas Pine Bluff—71 (PoG: Matt Tebbs—18 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl)
#7 seed Alabama State—69; #10 seed Mississippi Valley—44 (PoG: Brian Rhodes—14 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 5 stl, 2 blk)
#8 seed Bethune Cookman—72; #9 seed Prairie View—69 (PoG: Josh Butler—10 pts, 8 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk)
Round 2 (Quarterfinals)#4 seed Alabama A&M—84, #5 seed Southern—73 (PoG: Jevin Gilbert—17 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk)
#6 seed Texas Southern—82, #3 seed Florida A&M—75 (PoG: Ricardo Douglas—29 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl)
#7 seed Alabama State—62, #2 seed Alcorn State—49 (PoG: Jeremy Phillips—11 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl)
#1 seed Grambling—60, #8 seed Bethune Cookman—59 (Although we beat the Wildcats 76-55 when we played them on their court, they have some very good shooters and are a better team than what that game as well as their W-L record would indicate. The first 8 minutes of the game were just plain ugly ball by both teams. Then when both began playing better, a couple times we put together a few nice back-to-back possessions which made me think we’d break away. But those hopes were quickly dashed each time as Bethune-Cookman reeled us back in. At the break we trailed 32-31 but the refs had put the Wildcats on the line 7 more times where they’d scored 7 more points than us. With our offense sputtering we dropped behind by 11 points with 13 minutes remaining. So even though the refs were tagging us with more fouls than they were against Bethune Cookman, I decided we had to crank up the intensity of our defense. That definitely put a hurt on the Wildcats’ offense, but you have to put the hall in the hoop to catch up. And we had difficulty doing that. But we very slowly crept up and with 2-1/2 minutes to go we tied the game at 52-52. Bethune Cookman then scored 4 unanswered points. Keith Bowie brought us back with a 3 and after being fouled on another 3 attempt, sinking all 3 free throws to give us a 58-56 lead with 36 seconds remaining. Correy Parker then picked of a pass inside and got the ball to a streaking Bowie who slammed it home to put us up by 4 with just 17 ticks on the clock. The Wildcats’ PG Michael Bohm who had torn up the entire game dropped in another 3 with 7 seconds left. We were able to run the clock out to escape with a one-point victory. And I could finally exhale. Although he had a horrible first half, SF Keith Bowie scored 18 of his 20 points in the 2nd half to be the Player of the Game. C Correy Parker with 10 points was our only other player to score in double figures.)
Round 3 (Semifinals)#7 seed Alabama State—79, #6 seed Texas Southern—67 (PoG: Bryan Rhodes—17 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast)
#1 seed Grambling—72, #4 seed Alabama A&M—61 (Although we won 85-78 when we played Alabama A&M on their court, it was a close game the entire 40 minutes. Our first four possessions resulted in 4 turnovers…horrible…fortunately the Bulldogs made just 2 points during that time and we then went on a 7-0 run. Our offense which was led by Parker, Robertson, and Bowie who scored 28 points in the half carried us to a 43-37 halftime advantage. Our defense was porous though. It took almost 3 minutes before either team scored in the 2nd half. By the midpoint of the 2nd half we were ahead by 15. In the next 5 minutes we couldn’t buy a basket and Alabama A&M cut our lead to 9. Our offense rekindled and we never let the Bulldogs ge[t any closer. Correy Parker had a double-double (21 points and 10 rebounds) and was the Player of the Game. SF Keith Bowie and SG Lonnie Robertson both scored 15 points with Bowie pulling down 8 boards.)
Round 4 (Championship)#1 seed Grambling—77, #7 seed Alabama State—71 (We beat the Hornets twice (by 11 and 7 points) this season. But Alabama State has played 3 extremely strong games in this tournament. We led most of the first half, but ne could pull away. The half ended with us on top 42-38. Keith Bowie led our scoring with 12 points. The Hornets went up by 4 points just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. We slowly came back and by the midpoint of the half we were pretty much in control, but couldn’t shake Alabama A&M. The game remained in doubt until the final minute. SF Keith Bowie scored 19 points and had 6 rebounds to be the Player of the Game. Keith was also the MVP of the tournament with 54 points in the 3 games. SG Lonnie Robertson had 14 points, 7 assists and 3 steals. We were seriously challenged in all 3 games but played just well enough to win each game and be crowned SWAC champs.)
