Hot shooting in the first half gave Alcorn State the lift they need to defeat Southern University 85-73 in front of the home crowd.

Delvin Thompson led the first half charge for the Braves as he scored 16 points. Patrick Horton chipped in nine points to back Thompson.

“The Fayette connection was no joke,” Alcorn men’s head coach Sam West said. “Patrick Horton shot the ball well, too.”

At the half the Braves led the Jaguars 47-24, but Southern made a run at Alcorn at the start of the second half.

The Braves were held scoreless in the first four minutes of the second half, and got into foul trouble early on. Southern hit several free throws to cut into the Braves lead, and at one point cut the lead to four points.

But Alcorn eventually pulled away in the latter part of the second half with some big help from Juan Wyatt, who scored 12 second half points, most of which came in the paint.

With the victory, Alcorn extended its winning streak to five games in a row, much to the liking of West.

“It’s great,” West said. “If we can just keep it going, we’ll be fine.”

West said the Braves’ ability to knock down shots, combined with the Jaguars’ missed free throws down the stretch, was the key to the game.

“We just have to learn to finish out games,” he said.

Alcorn State women 75, Southern 73, OT

The Alcorn State Lady Braves survived a late second half surge by the Lady Jaguars and overtime to pick up the 75-73 victory Saturday night.

Both teams were neck and neck in the beginning, but the Lady Braves were 14 of 14 from the free throw line and managed to head into the locker room at the intermission with 26-24 lead.

The Lady Braves led most of the early part of the second half, but the relentless play in the paint by Southern’s Fredrieka Lewis eventually gave the Lady Jaguars a seven point lead with 10 minutes to play.

The Lady Braves remained aggressive and eventually caused some turnovers, which eventually set up the Kenisha Daniels, put back as time expired that sent the game into overtime.

In overtime the Lady Jaguars jumped ahead early, put could not put the Lady Braves away. With 42 seconds to go in overtime, Daniels tied the game at the free throw line.

Brittany Myatt put the game away with 3.5 seconds left when she hit two game-winning free throws to give the Lady Braves the 75-73 win.

“Hitting free throws down the stretch was the difference maker,” Alcorn women’s head coach Shirley Martin said.

She said despite Southern’s record, she knew the Lady Jaguars would not go down without a fight.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but everybody stepped up.”