Back 2 Back: Alcorn named as the SWAC Regular Season Champions for the second year in a row

Story from Alcorn Athletics:
PINE BLUFF, Ark. – The Alcorn State men’s basketball team secures back-to-back SWAC Regular Season Championship titles after defeating Arkansas – Pine Bluff 63-58 inside the H.O. Clemmons Arena Saturday evening. The Braves close out the regular season 18-12 overall and 15-3 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Alcorn will be the No. 1 seed in the championship tournament in Birmingham next week.

Byron Joshua led the Braves offense against the Golden Lions. The New Orleans, La. native went up for 23 points with five rebounds and three assists. Dekedran Thorn also hit double-digits Saturday with 10 points.

Arkansas – Pine Bluff just narrowly missed joining Alcorn in Birmingham. The Golden Lions end their 2022-23 season 10-21 and 6-12 in the SWAC. Shaun Doss, Jr. and Kylen Milton scored 15 points each, while Robert Lewis had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a hard-fought game on both sides of the ball. The score tied six times with five lead changes.

UAPB took an early lead, going on a 9-0 run before Trevin Wade went to the free-throw line for Alcorn. He ended the Braves scoring drought to land both of his shots and cut the Golden Lions lead to 9-2.

Braves picked up some momentum and locked the score at 19 with 8:34 remaining in the contest. Dominic Brewtonwent up for a layup and made the shot but was fouled. He added the and-one to even the score.

The Golden Lions went on another scoring run to close the period, and Alcorn entered halftime trailing UAPB 29-26.

Coming back after the break, a full minute ticked off before Doss split free throws at the line to give UAPB the first points in the second half.

Jeremiah Kendall answered for Alcorn, also splitting his free throws at the line to cut the Golden Lions lead to 30-27 with 18:27 left in the game.

With just four minutes left to play, the Braves led the Golden Lions, 55-53. Montgomery added a free throw, and Joshua had back-to-back layups to extend Alcorn’s lead to 60-53 with less than two minutes left.

UAPB would attempt to best the Braves in the remaining seconds, but Alcorn stayed ahead for the 63-58 victory.

The Braves men’s basketball team will travel to Birmingham, Ala., next week for the 2023 SWAC Championship Tournament. Alcorn will be the No. 1 seed and is set to take on Texas Southern on Wednesday, March 8, at 8:30 p.m. inside the Bartow Arena.