Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 22, 1984, edition 2 / Page 6
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191 M t 4(11 M SWAG Alcorn Wins By LONZA HARDY Staff Writer Some strange things happened on our way to the Southwestern Athletic Conference basketball tournament Mrst, just two days before the March 6 tipoff of opening-round action, it was discovered that one league school ~ Mississippi Valley State ~ had committed an NCAA scheduling infraction, playing 28 regular-season games while the NCAA limit is 27. So, in an 1 lth-hour decision, SWAC Commissioner James Frank ruled that the Delta Devils would not be eligible to participate in the tourney. He said he based his decision on the belief that allowing the team to participate could jeopardize the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. 441 regretted having to make that decision," Frank told reporters the morning of March 5, "but the NCAA" states that no school can Dlav more than 27 regular-season games. Mississippi Valley played 28.*' Chuck Prophet, sports information director at Mississippi Valley, said the decree was especially hard for the players to take. "Coach (Lafayette) Stribbling called a team meeting to break the news to the players," Prophet recalled. "When he told them, you would have thought someone in their families had died. They took it hard". The MVSU decision also caused a reshuffling of the tournament Brackets. Alcorn State, which was to host Prairie View in opening-round action, was given a first-round bye. Prairie View then, had to travel to Grambling, which originally was scheduled to host Texas Southern. And Jackson State, originally slated to travel to Mississippi Valley, had to journey out of state to face Texas Southern. Then they finally played basketball. There were no surprises. After a closer-than-expected first half, Grambling disposed of Prairie View and advanced to round two of tournament. Meanwhile, out in Houston, Jackson State and Texas Southern engaged in the tournament's only over, tirnp oamf? a rnnfpct TCI 1 ? >? ------ f u TTIHVII 1 vJ\J tVCll" tually won by two points. With- the-SWA semtft??4?rsefc% the Coliseum, where the four remaining schools would battle for the right to represent the SWAC in the NCAA tournament. And what a battle it was. The first game of the semifinals pitted 11-16 Texas Southern against 16-11 Southern. And, though the odds were clearly stacked against TSU, someone forgot to tell the Tigers. Led by hot-shooting guards Ed Milliard and Lester Brooks, Texas Page 6-March. i c it vie i The Sweep B< III H 1 The mad scramble for the Southwest team of fellows from Lorman, Miss., Southern surprised everyone but itself by storming out to a 37-29 halftime lead. The Texans connected on 17 of 30 shots from the floor (56.6 percent), L.t J: .i? * ? " - " wuiic nuiuuig me jaguars 10 ij or zv (44.7 percent). Although the Jaguars held the upper hand in scoring in the last frame, they couldn't muster enough offense to stave off the upstart Tigers. The result was the first upset of the men's tournament, a 74-69 victory for TSU. Hilliard finished the game with 25 points for TSU, while Brooks tossed in 18 and Andre Applewhite had 19. Southern, which headed back to Baton Rouge, was led in scoring by Kevin Morent and James Lee, who contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. , ,jytranwhiU>u fUrfcnrima.SWAr ? - rnni^tehainpiotrAlcorn^Stattfigurcd to have a battle on its hands against Grambling State in the nightcap. But Grambling's Tigers weren't nearly as fortunate as TSU's. After two early ties, all-SWAC forward Aaron Brandon of Alcorn hit a jumper from the top of the key to put the Braves up by two points with 1:09 left in the first half. It was all downhill for Grambling after that as Alcorn State built a comfy 36-15 halftime lead. :W stakes Once ; HJg tern Athletic Conference's tournament who call themselves the Braves grab! The second half wasn't much dif- s ferent as the Braves continued their r roll, winding up with a 76-51 victory t and making it to the SWAC champion- t ship game for the third time in as many " years. ASU was led by Brandon and c Michael Phelps, who contributed 23 s and 21 points, respectively. "It was a team victory," Alcorn s Coach Davey Whitney said following t his team's win. "That was the first we S played in 11 days but our defense i ? j ? * piayea wen. wnen we started pressing, 1( it turned the game around for us." The SWAC title game thus became a * repeat of the 1983 game, with Texas * Southern again vying to dethrone ^ Alcorn and Alcorn refusing to budge. "Contrary to what some people ^ u.q Athtetfc-Cortfefenee frastobatl tourna- ^ ment has not been changed to the Alcorn Invitational," observed * clarion-Leager columnist Roscoe ~ Nance, ''but it might not be a bad idea -j since the Braves seem to have a lock on ^ the SWAC championship." Alcorn, winner of the previous two f, tournaments and three of the last four, r jumped quickly on the Tigers, holding v a 42-32 lead at halftime. b Texas Southern fought back in the v Again ijlf^ crown ended as usual this year: a >ed the honors. econd half, but the Braves. aDDarentlv 0 - r a * lot knowing how to lose a SWAC oumament game, proved to be too ough for the Tigers. The result was a r8-69 win for ASU, its third straight inference championship and its third traight berth in the NCAA playoffs. "We are happy about this, especially ince we had so much bad luck during he season," said Whitney. "Texas iouthern made it mighty difficult for is but we were able to contain their eading scorers." The Braves were led in the title game >y Phelps' 24 points and Brandon's 18. * r? 1 . ? -csicr orooKs scorea 23 points for rsu. As a further testimonial to the Iraves* dominance of the tournament, our. a? the. five player ou- tk^ ah tate players. Phelps and Eddie Archie nade the first team at guard, Brandon t forward and Tommy Collier at enter. Forward Andre Applewhite of "exas Southern was the lone nonIrave on the first team. After their win, the Braves set sail or Dayton Ohio; site of the opening ound of the NCAA tournament, /here they would have liked nothing 'etter than to continue their winning /ays.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 22, 1984, edition 2
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