Joe French and Rashad Williams not only scored 21 points apiece for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, but they also connected on 12 of the Golden Lions’ 14 3-point baskets.
Their outside shooting helped the Lions weather a 39-point performance by Rayquan Brown and take a 78-69 victory over Mississippi Valley State University at the H.O. Clemmons Arena on Saturday. The Lions finished their home portion of the schedule 7-6 and have two regular-season games left to finish as one of the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s top eight teams and seal a berth in the SWAC tournament.
French and Williams are two of the Lions’ three graduate transfers, along with reserve guard Kaine McColley. Williams, the SWAC’s fourth-leading scorer, also dished 6 assists and made 6 of 6 free throws. French shot 7 for 12 from the arc.
“Those dudes want to win,” Lions Coach Solomon Bozeman said of French and Williams. “They came to UAPB to change the program. I tell everybody they’re some of the best shooters in the country. You won’t find a better duo that shoot the basketball than Joe French and Rashad Williams.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
French and Williams each had 5 rebounds. Ismael Plet threw in 15 points and collected 10 rebounds in the win.
But Brown, the SWAC’s second-leading scorer at 18.6 points per game, more than doubled his average on 14-of-22 field-goal shooting. The Atlanta product went 4 for 8 from 3-point range, went 7 for 8 in free throws, and pulled down 8 rebounds.
“Brown is a really good player,” Bozeman said. “As you can see tonight, he can score. Once he got going, he got going. We held him to 14 at their place. I honestly thought it was us. I thought he got too comfortable from the start.
The Lions made the pendulum swing greatly in their favor after trailing the Delta Devils 31-17 with 7:58 left in the first half. UAPB closed the half on an 11-0 spurt to take 34-33 lead, and then led by as many as 14 points with 6 minutes to go, as Williams grew hot from outside.
Trying to come back and contain Brown was difficult, French said, charging the matter to a lack of focus.
“They obviously punched us in the mouth, but we had to fix it and adjust, and we did that well,” French said.
The Lions used defense to come back.
“I just thought, defensively, we got stops,” Bozeman said. “We played with more discipline on the defensive end and we used our size, and that’s what got us going where we were able to get out in transition and make easy baskets.”
Donovan Sanders added 12 points for Mississippi Valley State (1-28, 1-15), which had just won its first game Monday against Prairie View A&M. The Devils have lost 6 conference games by less than 10 points.
UAPB will play at Jackson State University on Thursday and at Alcorn State University on Saturday. The Lions are tied for seventh in the SWAC and are one game ahead of ninth-place Alabama State University.
Joe French of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff shoots and makes a 3-point basket against Danny Washington of Mississippi Valley State University during the second half at UAPB’s H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff on Saturday, March 2, 2024. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)