There was a smile on the face of every University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff player Tuesday night as they sprinted to midcourt to celebrate after the final buzzer sounded.
The UAPB men’s basketball team upset second-place Texas Southern 69-68 at H.O. Clemmons Arena for its first SWAC win of the season.
Junior guard Doctor Bradley said he was happy to finally get a win.
“It felt good to see all my brothers smiling that we finally got one,” Bradley said. “It felt good to see (UAPB coach Solomon Bozeman) smiling, and it’s just like, a domino effect now. We just needed one. Now, it’s gonna keep on going.”
This win ended an eight-game losing streak and came three days after a tough home loss to Mississippi Valley State, which had not beaten a Division I team until beating UAPB (4-18, 1-8 SWAC).
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Bozeman said the Golden Lions spent about two hours in the locker room after that loss. Starting that night, the players stepped up to take ownership, determined to end the streak.
The coach said he let the players run the film session the next day, and he liked what he saw.
“They got to call each other out, hold each other accountable,” Bozeman said. “You could start seeing our team turn that corner with each other, all the players calling each other out. I sat back, our coaches sat back, and it was awesome to see.
“I actually got some sleep. I hadn’t been getting much sleep, but once I saw them do that in that film session and hold each other accountable, I just felt like I knew that we were headed in the right direction.”
UAPB led most of the game, but the Tigers (10-12, 7-2) went on a 17-4 run early in the second half to take the lead. TSU didn’t trail again until over 12 minutes later when UAPB guard Christian Moore made a free throw to give the Golden Lions a 65-64 advantage.
TSU split a pair of trips to the free throw line to regain the lead, but a Bradley layup gave UAPB the lead back, this time for good.
A step-back shot by TSU guard Zaire Hayes with 53 seconds remaining was the Tigers’ only made field goal in the game’s final 7:15. The Tigers shot a layup which would have won the game in the final 5.2 seconds but missed it and couldn’t secure the rebound as time expired.
Bradley credited the Golden Lions’ ability to fight back when TSU took the lead to a video about a boxer Bozeman showed the team before the game.
“The dude had got hit in the face, and he got like, a good hit,” Bradley said. “The next dude was just like, it didn’t faze him. They hit us hard, and we just kept coming hard. Kept on coming harder and harder. They can’t get us out the game. We gonna keep on fighting, for sure.”
This was UAPB’s first game this season holding a Division I foe below 70 points. Texas Southern shot 33.3 percent from the field despite making nine 3-pointers.
The Golden Lions are typically the team shooting 3-pointers, but they instead got to the rim and outscored TSU 42-26 in the paint while still making five of 14 from deep.
Bozeman said the defense powered UAPB to victory.
“I thought we were flying around, and I thought the communication as awesome,” Bozeman said. “I thought we knew where guys were. They’re a team that can make shots, and then I thought we fought them down there. A lot of people don’t understand, those 12-footers are hard. It’s a hard shot, so we had them shoot a bunch of 12-footers and floaters and hooks, and we just fought them.”