Unlikely winners in SWAC
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Men's top seed, Mississippi Valley State, was felled by Alcorn State 67-66, in Thursday's quarterfinals while women's top seed Alabama State was knocked off Wednesday by the Lady Delta Devils of MVSU, 57-52.
Southern, seeded third in the tournament, finally ended MVSU's run, 68-61 in the women's final to give head coach Sandy Pugh her second title in three years.
Alabama State, a third seed,
weathered serious challenges to knock off
fifth-seeded Alabama A&M, 63-58, to emerge as
the men's champion. Head coach Ron Spivery also earned his second SWAC title leading
the Hornets.
Southern (17-12) gets the SWAC's automatic bid to the women's NCAA Div. I Championship Tournament and will play West Regional top seed Texas (28-4), the champion of the Big 12, Sunday, March 31 at 7 p.m in Austin, Tx. The Lady Jaguars are the 16th and last seed in the region.
Alabama State (16-14) gets the automatic bid to the men's NCAA Div. I Tournament and will travel to Raleigh 's RBC Center Thursday for a 7:10 p.m. battle with Duke (27-5) in the Atlanta Region.
Pugh's troops needed a late 17-0 run to put a halt to MVSU's Cinderella bid for the ladies crown.
The Lady Delta Devils under Nathaniel Kilbert, built a 34-29 halftime lead and led 51-47 in the finals before the Lady Jags employed a full-court press that determined the outcome.
"I was saving the press until I really needed it because (Nate) does an excellent job of making adjustments," said Pugh.
After knocking off top seed Alabama State in the quarterfinals, MVSU came from 20 points down to beat Grambling State in the semis.
SWAC Freshman of the Year, Fredreika Lewis, had only five points at intermission but added 19 in the second half to finish with a game-high 24. Jaguar guard Rhonda Monroe, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, had 21 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
"We never panicked," said Gilbert, who is in his fourth season leading the MVSU women. "We put pressure on them in the first half but they did a good job of bending but not breaking. This is a good start for our program."
The Hornets SWAC championship road was perhaps even harder than Southern's.
In their 63-62 quarterfinal win against seventh-seeded Southern, the game was tied nine times before guard Ralfeal Golden canned a 3-pt jumper with 0:33 remaining in the game for the 63-62 winning score.
The Hornets then survived a last shot and two overtimes to get past sixth-seeded Jackson State, 59-56, to move on from the semifinals.
In the championship game against in-state rival Alabama A&M, the Hornets allowed an 11-point halftime lead (33-22) to melt to ties at 36 (12:11) and 44-44 (7:47). Malcolm Campbell's nine points in a 13-5 Hornets run over the next 6:17 to push the lead out to a 57-49 lead that proved to be enough cushion to capture the championship.
Campbell earned Tournament MVP honors, finishing with 14 points in the final. Xavier Oliver also had 14 while Kevin Spicer added 13.
Obie Trotter led the A&M Bulldogs with 21 points while Terry Horton had 20.
Golden, Oliver and Campbell were joined on the All-Tournament Team by Trotter and Horton.
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.