LORMAN &045; Throw all the myths and preconceived notions out of the window.

Thanks to a bunch of productive newcomers this season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, nothing is ever as it seems.

While Alcorn State’s men were predicted to struggle, the Braves have played well at times and were on the verge of knocking off Mississippi Valley Saturday night before falling in overtime, 63-59. Southern University was picked as the clear-cut favorite, but the Jaguars had trouble putting away Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday.

The Braves have another chance to stay in the race today when they host UAPB, and they’ll do so with a huge fish story of one that really got away.

&uot;It’s real important that we win that game for our conference,&uot; Alcorn assistant Jason Cable said. &uot;Pine Bluff is not a bad team. Most of your upsets happen on Monday nights after that hard-fought Saturday game. We’ve got to stay focused.&uot;

Tonight’s contest will be against an improved Golden Lions team, leaving the race for the eight spots in the tournament an all-out scramble. The Delta Devils were without senior shooter Solomon Forbes Saturday night after he was dismissed from the team, but guards Hosea Butler and freshman Sandford Speech contributed plenty.

Valley remains a half game behind Southern at the top of the standings, but Jackson State’s 1-4 mark at the bottom of the conference right now doesn’t seem so far away.

&uot;We were just blessed to come out on top,&uot; Valley head coach Lafayette Stribling said. &uot;It’s always a good win coming from behind. Now we know we can come from behind a win a ball game. I don’t know how everybody came out (Saturday), it’s still going to be a heck of a race.&uot;

The Braves have a chance to get a win tonight, a crucial game before next week’s trip to Alabama before the Jan. 29 game against Southern. The Braves made some crucial turnovers in the overtime after they finished tied at 51 at the end of regulation, but it was the team’s defense that put them in position to get the win.

Valley struggled offensively for a good portion of the first half, and the Braves limited them on several occasions to just one shot.

&uot;We know what we have to do, but it’s a learning process,&uot; Cable said.

The Braves got key contributions from the inside with Almaad Jackson and Juan Wyatt in the early going, but the offense got away from it. The Delta Devils started to claw their way back into the game late, and the Braves got out of their offense and started to struggle.

Delvin Thompson finished with 27 points, but Cable said he’s still learning how to handle the pressure in that type of situation.

&uot;Delvin put up a great game tonight, but down the stretch he didn’t execute,&uot; Cable said. &uot;You can kind of expect that from him playing his first year of Division I ball, but we hope he continues to grow from this and keep helping us.

&uot;Offensively, our inside game was pretty solid until the second half with about 13 minutes left. They started doubling the post and got a couple of turnovers. Sometimes you’ve got to pick and choose, and sometimes (Thompson) chose right and sometimes he chose wrong.&uot;

Yet it was Thompson and other Alcorn players who kept the Braves in the game in the second half with some timely free-throw shooting. Thompson nailed all four attempts in the final four minutes, and Alleo Frazier hit two with 17 seconds left that gave the Braves a three-point lead.

But Butler hit the 3-pointer in the corner with four seconds left to send it into OT.