LORMAN, MS – Coming off a three game road swing, Southern (4-6, 4-2 SWAC) men's basketball team got back in the win column as they rolled past Alcorn State (3-7, 3-2 SWAC) with a 76-59 victory Saturday in the Davey Whitney Complex. 

Junior Jayden Saddler led Southern with a season-high 19 points, all in the first half. He also finished with eight assist and six rebounds. Saddler was 8-of-9 (88.89%) from the field, 2-of-2 (100%) on 3-pointers and was 1-of-1 (100%) from the free throw line. Four other Jaguars landed in double digit scoring. Junior Samkelo Cele came off the bench to finish with 16 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes of play. Senior Ahsante Shivers added 15 points, junior Isaiah Rollins  finished with 11 points and redshirt freshman Terrell Williams Jr.  contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Graduate transferHarrison Henderson led the Jaguars with 13 rebounds.

"Jayden Saddler really set the tone tonight and made sure we weren't going to lose this game," SU Head Coach Sean Woods said. "Also, give a lot of credit to Samkelo as he gave us a big lift and some big energy off the bench. Our focus was coming out of the locker room and not be complacent, I felt our guys stepped up and we did what we needed to take care of business today."

SU started the game on a 3-0 run off back-to-back free throws from Henderson and Rollins before the Braves scored of Joshua layup with 17:47 in the first half. On the next possession Saddler made jumper with 17:33 on the clock started the Jaguars 10-2 run giving SU the 15-4 advantage with 12:35 remaining on the clock. Alcorn got as close as 24-16 after Troymain Crosby scored two of his game-high 21 points, but SU came back with another 13-1 run. Southern finished the first half on a 25-17 advantage and took a 40-21 lead into the locker room. SU led by as much as 20 points at one time during the first half.

The start of the second half was very similar to the first as both teams were trading baskets early. Isaiah Rollins three point basket with 18:22 left in regulation started SU 19-6 run capped off by another Rollins made three pointer extending the Jaguars lead 59-27 with 12:25 remaining. Southern's largest lead was 66-33 (33 points) and it led 74-48 with less than two minutes to play. Cele scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half helping secure the victory over the Braves. 

Southern outrebounded Alcorn 39-33 and SU shot 51.0% from the field (26-51), 39.1% from behind the arc (9-23), shot 71.4% from the free throw line (15-21) while Alcorn State was 31.0% from the floor and SU defense held the Braves to only 7.7% from behind the three point line.

Troymain Crosby led ASU with 21 points and Byron Joshua finished with 10 points for the Braves.

UP NEXT
Southern will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 6  when they host in-state rival Grambling State at 4:30 pm in the F.G. Clark Activity Center

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