A hot-shooting second half allowed the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to fend off a comeback effort Saturday and secure its second straight road win.
The UAPB men’s basketball team defeated Mississippi Valley State 78-70 at the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex in Itta Bena, Mississippi.
UAPB (8-13, 5-3 SWAC) led by as much as 46-29 with 15:42 remaining in the game and kept the lead in double figures until the final 8 minutes.
MVSU (1-21, 0-8) junior guard Michael James hit the Delta Devils’ first 3-pointer of the game with 7:36 remaining after Valley had missed its first eight attempts, cutting UAPB’s lead to 59-50. Junior guard Xzayvion Childress made one with 6:42 remaining to make it a 61-54 game, triggering a UAPB timeout.
Childress later hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 63-59 with 4:51 remaining, but UAPB senior guard Quion Williams ensured that was the closest Valley got to finishing its comeback.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Williams had 4 points with less than 6 minutes remaining but finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists after dominating the final 5:22. He drew multiple 3-point play opportunities while grabbing an offensive rebound and dealing an assist during that final stretch.
Freshman guard Milhan Charles scored a career-high 22 points with eight rebounds, which he capped off with a layup with just under a minute to play to get UAPB’s lead back to 10. James hit a jumper shortly after for Valley, but neither team scored in the final 48 seconds as UAPB closed out its third straight win in Itta Bena.
Senior guard Alex Mirhosseini and forward Jaquan Scott each added 11 points for UAPB. James led Valley with 25 points, while senior forward Daniel Mayfield added 15.
UAPB led 30-24 at halftime despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, which would have been UAPB’s fifth-worst performance of the season. The Golden Lions got to the free throw line with ease but made half of their 16 attempts in the first half. A 50 percent day at the line would have tied UAPB’s season low.
Those shooting woes did not carry over into the second half. UAPB shot 51.7 percent from the field and made 16 of 18 free throws in the second half to grow its lead and hold on in the end. Charles made 8 of 10 at the line, while Scott made 7 of 8.
It took Valley until the 5:22 mark of the first half to attempt its first free throw, by which point UAPB had already shot 14, but the Delta Devils finished 22 of 28 at the line.
Both teams ran into foul trouble with the officials calling a combined 55 fouls. Scott and Dennis Asoro fouled out for UAPB, while Mussa Mzein and Tyrone Iroghama did so for Valley. Scott, who received two technical fouls during the game, was the only player among that group with more than 4 points.