Tigers Send Seniors Home In Style With Solid Win Over Mississippi Valley State

After a back-and-forth first few minutes of the game, Kehlin Farooq buried a long range shot to start an 18-6 run that allowed the Texas Southern University men’s basketball team to take a 29-18 lead with 7:14 left in the first half and never looking back en route to an 80-62 victory.

With the win alongside a win by Prairie View and losses by Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Alabama State, TSU now sits in a four-way tie for sixth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with just four games to go including contests against UAPB and PVAMU.

TSU (10-17, 6-8 SWAC) would go on to attain a 35-22 lead with 4:37 left before halftime, but MVSU’s Terry Collins attempted to single-handedly get his Delta Devils back into the thick of things with a jumper and back-to-back treys to cut the deficit to 35-30.

After a Joirdon Karl Nicholas free throw with 1:38 before the half, John Walker III drained a pair of threes of his own to push the Tigers out to a 42-30 halftime lead. The six points scored by Walker III pushed his first half total up to 14.

MVSU (4-24, 3-11 SWAC) recorded four of the first nine points of the second half to make the score 47-34 in favor of the homestanding Tigers, who would then go on a 9-0 run to all but end any hope of a comeback out of the Delta Devils as the 22-point lead at 56-34 would be the largest for either team on the outing.

Mississippi Valley State didn’t play their greatest game, nor did they play their worst, the average fan can chalk the TSU victory to clawing their way to a decent lead and doing everything that they could to maintain that lead forcing the opposition to exert way too much energy for a comeback.

TSU owned a better shooting percentage 49.2 to 44.9 as well as leads in rebounding (35-30), assists (17-14) and bench points (17-7) while also committing just 13 turnovers compared to 23 from MVSU.

Collins would lead all players in points with 23 on 9-for-22 shooting from the field and 5-for-14 from beyond the arc to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

PJ Henry led a group of four Tigers in double figures with 19 points as Walker III followed closely behind with 18. Nicholas tallied 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block while Kolby Granger added 11 of his own. Farooq may not have tallied double-digits in any individual statistical category, but he was still poised enough to record eight points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Prior to the game, TSU honored Nicholas, Walker III, Calen Holiday and Jordan Gilliam during Senior Day festivities to honor those four men during their time donning a TSU uniform.
 
UP NEXT
TSU will welcome in Arkansas-Pine Bluff to the H&PE Arena for the final home contest of the season on Monday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. The winner of this contest will be in no worse that sixth place in the SWAC standings with just three games remaining afterward.