OMARI

[PointGuard]

Grambling Tigers (16-8, 8-4) @ Mississippi Valley Delta Devils (7-17, 4-8)

This game was extremely close the entire way with 22 lead changes. At halftime we trailed Mississippi Valley 32-29. We spent most of the 2nd half fighting to catch up and then falling slightly behind. We edged ahead in the final couple minutes but the Delta Devils reserve guard O.J. Monson drilled a 3 with 14 seconds to give them a 69-67 lead. We called a time out to set up a play. We were unable to execute it since we couldn’t get the ball inside to Correy Parker, but with 2 seconds remaining, PG Mario Kelly drove to the right of the key, pulled up and dropped in a 14 foot jumper to send the game to OT. Overtime was no different than the rest of the game with neither team able to get ahead by more than 2 points and ended with the score knotted at 80-80. We had a chance to win it, but our shot from the corner with time expiring rimmed out. We scored the first 4 points in the 2nd OT, and then desperately held on to escape with a 94-91 double-overtime victory. SG Lonnie Robertson continued to be our high point man, this time with 26 points. Reserve SF/SG Brad O’Neil had 14 points and 5 boards. C Correy Parker scored 13 points and had 6 rebounds. PG Mario Kelly finished with 10 points and 6 assists. Lonnie Robertson has upped his scoring average to 18.1 which is the best in our conference. Bad News: PF/C Etan Benton bruised his calf and will have to sit out our next 2 or 3 games.

[PointGuard]

Alabama State Hornets (11-13, 7-6) @ Grambling Tigers (17-8, 9-4)

This is our first game this season with Etan Benton out of the starting lineup and unable to play. We’ll make do but this definitely shortens our bench. The two teams duked it out for the first 14 minutes but the Hornets began burning up the net to pull ahead. We came back a bit to trail by just 46-43 at the end of the half. Brad O’Neil scored 14 points for us while Eddie Bellairs dropped in 13 for Alabama State. The game was close with numerous lead changes in the 2nd half, but we let the Hornets edge ahead late and just couldn’t catch up. We fell 84-78. We simply were unable to keep their big men from scoring…and they combined for 46 points as they hit 18 of 25 shots inside. For us SF/SG Brad O’Neil had 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. SG Lonnie Robertson scored 12 points plus pulled down 6 boards and dished out 4 assists. C Correy Parker and SF Brody Rowland both scored 10 points. Tough to lose at home, but Alabama State earned the hard-fought victory. But the loss has put a lot of pressure on our team, since 3 of our final 4 games are road games, including one against 2nd place Southern. We’re going to have to pull off some road wins to maintain our present 4th place in the conference standings.

[PointGuard]

Grambling Tigers (17-9, 9-5) @ Texas Southern Tigers (18-7, 8-6)

Texas Southern won 10 of their 11 pre-conference games, then slumped along in conference play (but they whipped us 78-65 on our court). They’ve come back to life to win 5 of their last 6 games. They have 3 players each averaging about 12-1/2 ppg. So we will need to play our best to have a chance on their court tonight. We held our own for 5 minutes but then a combination of turnovers, poor shooting, and horrible D allowed Texas Southern to gradually pull away to an 18 point lead over the next 10 minutes. We ended up trailing 42-26 at halftime. Texas Southern began the 2nd half by sinking their first 6 FG attempts, putting us down by 25 points. Led by SG Brad O’Neil we cut that lead to just 8 points with 11-1/2 minutes to go. We could get no closer and lost 80-67. SG/SF Brad O’Neil tossed in 20 points and C Correy Parker had a double-double (15 points and 13 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Grambling Tigers (17-10, 9-6) @ Southern Jaguars (19-8, 12-3)

We beat the Jaguars 79-70 when we played them on our court 5 weeks ago. But they’re fighting for the conference lead, just 1 game behind 1st place Alcorn State. We came out on fire, hitting 10 of our first 13 shots to take a 24-15 lead. But the Jaguars fought back to edge ahead 42-40 at the end of the half. Southern then quickly jumped out to an 8 point lead early in the 2nd half. After hitting 57% of our first half shots, we shot as if there was a lid on the basket throughout the entire 2nd half….hitting just 14% of our 2nd half shots…yes, 14%! That allowed Southern to romp to a 76-59 drubbing of us. SG Lonnie Robertson scored 15 and had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. C Correy Parker had 14 points, 9 boards, 3 steals and 3 blocks. The loss dropped us into a tie for 5th place in the conference standings.

[PointGuard]

Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions (11-16, 6-10) @ Grambling Tigers (17-11, 9-7)

I was really happy with how our guys played tonight. We took the lead early in the game and then steadily increased our lead. We put together a solid 40 minutes, outhitting the Golden Lions 46% to 43%, going +9 on the boards, and making just 8 turnovers. We prevailed 82-67. Our entire starting 5 played well: SG Lonnie Robertson (18 points, 3 assists); C Correy Parker (15 points, 10 rebounds); SF Aubrey Johnson (10 points, 5 boards); PG Mario Kelly (9 points, 3 assists); and PF Etan Benton (8 points, 5 rebounds).

[PointGuard]

Grambling Tigers (18-11, 10-7) @ Prairie View Panthers (7-21, 4-13)

There were 5 lead changes in the first 9 minutes, but then we grabbed a lead we never gave up. By halftime we were in control 41-27. We continued to build our lead in the 2nd half and went up by 27 points with 4 minutes remaining. We let the Panthers cut into our lead but were never threatened. Our winning margin was 82-66. SG Lonnie Robertson and SF/SG Brad O’Neil both scored 19 points and SF/PF Aubrey Johnson had 12 points and 6 rebounds. By winning our final 2 games of the regular season we moved into a 3-way tie for 3rd place in the SWAC.

[PointGuard]

Final Southwest Athletic Conference Standings



By beating Florida A&M in our only game against them this season, we will be the 4th seed in the conference tournament. We’ll therefore have a bye for the first round of the tournament. Of course, if 5th seed Florida A&M gets by 12th seed Prairie View (as they should), we'll go up against the Rattlers in our first game in the tourney.

[PointGuard]

Tournament Conference Considerations

We’re completing our preparation for the conference tournament. Disappointingly, we’ve played 30 games this season, and I still don’t have a locked-in and solid starting 5. Correy Parker and Etan Benton definitely are my starters inside and Lonnie Robertson has a lock on the SG position. But we began the season without a player on our roster who had played SF regularly. So I’ve tried 3 PF’s and 1 SG at the 3. None has been consistently productive there. But Brad O’Neil, a true SG, is my pick to start at SF in our conference tourney. He’s a better scorer than the other 3, and even though he’s shorter, has held his own on the boards. As has been the case throughout the entire season, none of my 4 PG’s has distinguished himself. None stands out significantly from the others, but I’ve decided to start senior Duane Robinson in the tournament. He has a slight edge in shooting percentage from the field and rebounding and controls the ball well with few turnovers. But there are games when he totally disappears. I’m just hoping he gets pumped up as he closes out his collegiate career in our final games...he's had some good games but needs to do that consistently.

In terms of how teams have played thus far this season, we're definitely a step lower than 1st place Alcorn State and 2nd place Southern while 3rd place Texas Southern has a slightly better overall record than us. But all 3 of these teams’ primary advantage over us (which is that they played better at home) will be negated since the tournament games will be on a neutral court. As usual in the SWAC, though, ANY team can get hot in the conference tournament and knock off a favorite. So we need to be totally focused on each team we come up against, no matter their seed.

[PointGuard]

SWAC Tournament—Day 1

Byes: #1 seed Alcorn State Braves, #2 seed Southern Jaguars, #3 seed Texas Southern Tigers, and #4 seed Grambling Tigers

#5 seed Florida A&M Rattlers (14-15) vs #12 seed Prairie View Panthers (7-22)—After trailing by 4 points at halftime, Prairie View came back, gaining the lead with 13 minutes remaining in the 2nd half and refusing to relinquish it. The Panthers came away with a 75-67 major upset of Florida A&M. The Rattlers’ SF Ahmed Hastie topped all scorers with 23 points, but 4 players for Prairie View scored in double figures, led by SF Dusty Raher’s 16 points.

#6 seed Alabama State Hornets (14-15) vs #11 seed Jackson State Tigers (6-23)—After the midpoint of the first half, Alabama State pulled away to a 48-34 at the half and then running their advantage to as much as 24 points in the 2nd half, before settling for a solid 93-76 victory. Alabama State dropped in 64% of their shots. PF Matt Hill and C Kitwana Lewis both scored 22 points for the Hornets. C Emeka Giesen hit ever shot he took for the Tigers and finished with a game-high 24 points.

#7 seed Bethune Cookman Wildcats (11-18) vs #10 seed Mississippi Valley Delta Devils (8-22)—There were 13 lead changes in the first half before the Wildcats moved out to a 47-39 lead at the break. Benthune Cookman then held off Mississippi Valley throughout the 2nd half as they scored a 77-70 win. SG Jason Phillips poured in 21 points for the Wildcats while the Delta Devils were led by C Larry Wilson’s 18 points.

#8 seed Alabama A&M Bulldogs (11-17) vs #9 seed Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions (11-19)—While the Golden Lions could only carve out a 28-27 lead at the end of the 1st half, their defense continued to thwart the Bulldogs allowing Arkansas Pine Bluff to pull away late for a 62-53 victory. C Tim Reid had 16 points and 8 rebounds for the Golden Lions while the top scorer in the game was Alabama A&M’s PF Marcus Robinson with 21 points.

[PointGuard]

SWAC Tournament—Day 2 (Quarterfinals)

#1 seed Alcorn State Braves (23-6) vs #9 seed Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions (12-19)—The Braves gained a lead they never surrendered at the 4 minute mark. By the end of the 1st half they were up 42-31. The Golden Lions kept pecking away at the lead throughout the 2nd half but could never overtake Alcorn State which beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 78-70. C Brett Smith was the Braves’ leading scorer with 15 points while PG Matthew Toton drilled in 25 points for Arkansas Pine Bluff.

#2 seed Southern Jaguars (22-8) vs #7 seed Bethune Cookman Wildcats (12-18)—Southern jumped on top with 18 minutes to go in the first half and edged ahead to a 47-40 halftime advantage. The Jaguars pushed their lead to as much as 18 points midway through the 2nd half and then coasted to an 83-75 victory. SF D.A. Battier scored 17 points to lead Southern. Reserve guard Joe Anderson poured in 23 points during his 17 minutes on the floor for Bethune Cookman.

#3 seed Texas Southern Tigers (21-8) vs #6 seed Alabama State Hornets (15-15)—The third straight game where the favorite took a lead erly in the game. The Tigers led 48-41 at halftime but then decimated the Hornets in the 2nd half enroute to an 87-64 crushing of Alabama State. Texas Southern’s PF/C Eugene Frahm came in off the bench to record 22 points and 9 rebounds. SG Traves Goodman scored 11 points and had 4 board, 4 assists, and 4 steals for the Hornets.

#4 seed Grambling Tigers (19-11) vs #12 seed Prairie View Panthers (8-22)—The Panthers did us a favor by knocking off #5 seed Florida A&M in the opening round. We rolled over Prairie View twice this season thus far and I hoped we followed the other top teams in the conference to come out on top today. We scored first and never gave up the lead. But Prairie View hung tough throughout the first half and we only led 38-34 at the break. But we rolled over them in the 2nd half, scoring 52 points in the half to scuttle their hopes of an upset and won 90-66. We played everyone and all of our payers scored. Scoring in double figures for us were: SG Lonnie Robertson and PG Duane Robinson with 12 points apiece and C Correy Parker and PF Aubrey Johnson who both scored 11. Prairie View's reserve guard Dennis Gilbert topped all scorers with 14 points.