Men’s Basketball Falls Late At Mississippi Valley State

ITTA BENA, Miss. –  Several big shots by Mississippi Valley in the closing minute was the difference as TSU couldn’t counter en route to a 71-67 road loss on Monday night.

Mississippi Valley State stormed out to a 26-12 lead in the first half but the Tigers refused to go down as they battled back with a 19-4 run over the final 7:13 as Isaiah Marin drained a three-pointer to send TSU into the locker room ahead 31-30. During the run, the Tigers relied on a team effort as Marin scored five points followed by four each from Zytarious Mortle and Davon Barnes.

Valley opened the second half with an 8-0 run to lead 38-31 until a layup from Kehlin Farooq ended the drought two-and-a-half minutes in. The Delta Devils would maintain the lead over the next nine minutes until a five-point outburst from Mortle followed by Chris Craig’s bucket gave TSU a 52-49 margin.

It was back-and-forth over the next few minutes as MVSU would lead by four points again but TSU fought back and tied it at 60-all with 4:04 left. The lead would change hands four times from that point until a 64-all tie at the 2:17 mark. Valley’s Kadar Waller moved MVSU ahead 66-64 but TSU’s John Walker III hit 1-of-2 free throws to draw the Tigers back within 66-65. However, Waller answered with a jumper on the ensuing possession for a 68-65 lead.

TSU would miss a basket on its next possession but picked up a big steal. Unfortunately, the Tigers had their next two shot attempts blocked and MVSU was fouled and hit both free throws to lead 70-65. TSU missed another jumper in the paint and MVSU was fouled and connected on 1-of-2 to remain ahead 71-65.

Chris Craig scored on a putback to draw within 71-67 and TSU stole the inbounds pass late but couldn’t connect as time expired.

Barnes scored 18 points with four rebounds while Mortle added 13 followed by 10 from Walker III.

TSU is back on action on Saturday as Alcorn State arrives for a 5 p.m. tip-off inside the H&PE Arena.