Katerri O’Neal
Staff Writer
The Jackson State University Tigers lost to Prairie View A&M University on Saturday, Jan. 14 with a final score of 72-66 and won their next game against Texas Southern University Monday, Jan. 16 with a final score of 51-54 which gives them a record of 2-4 in the SWAC and 4-14 overall.
During the first half of the Prairie View game the Tigers offense didn’t get any three-pointers. They shot 30.3 percent from the field, and 100 percent from the free -throw line and ended the half with a score 39-29 in favor of PVAMU. In the second half the Tigers still fell short by 6 points to the Panthers.
After the loss to PVAMU, the Tigers faced off against Texas Southern. The game was close with JSU taking the lead at the beginning on a jumper by Christian Williams and a layup and free throw shot from Kelsey Howard.
Texas Southern responded by tying the game up and taking the lead with a layup from Madarious Gibbs. The JSU Tigers tied the game up two more times before the half but Texas Southern managed to take the lead with a three-pointer from Omar Strong and an assist by Madarious Gibbs. They kept the lead going into the half making the score 28-24.
During the second half, the Tigers pushed harder and gave TSU a run for the money. They took back the lead after Jenirro Bush made a three-pointer with an assist from Jonathan Lewis and maintained the lead until the game was tied 49-49 with 1.32 left to play. Then Texas Southern’s Daniel King scored a layup with an assist from Patrick Onwenu, which put them in the lead with only 42 seconds left in the game.
The crowd began to stand up and cheer as the Tigers responded with a three-pointer from Christian Williams and an extra point from Sydney Coleman making the score 52-51 with 22 seconds left in the game, in favor of JSU. Christian Williams got fouled and scored the last two points of the game as JSU added a win to their victory column.
Kelsey Howard, a sophomore shooting guard majoring in physical education from Vicksburg, Miss. said, “We lost to Prairie View due to rebounds and a low start in the first half.”
He also mentioned that the difference in the Texas Southern game was that they started the game off well and out rebounded them by 20 points.
DeRyan Brister, a junior music education major from Jackson, Miss., said he tries to come to every game when he is not working to support the Tigers because he is a proud JSU student. At the beginning of the game it started off pretty bleak, he said, but they pulled it off.
“I feel like hardly anybody really knows the basketball schedule. You know we have hotspots to emphasize big games; there isn’t anything that advertises the basketball games besides the basketball schedule.” he added.
This weekend the JSU Tigers take on Grambling State at home on Saturday Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Lee E. Williams Athletic Assembly Center.
Howard said, “To beat Grambling we have to start off the game playing hard like we did against Texas Southern and not let them get any second chance points.”
