Updated Women's Bracket
Updated Men's Bracket
Kentucky State fights off rally, outduels Paine
#2W Kentucky State 73, #3E Paine 70
Box Score
ATLANTA, Ga. – Sharnita Lloyd scored 24 points to lead #2W Kentucky State University to a 73-70 victory over #3E Paine College in the quarterfinals of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament on Thursday at Morehouse College’s Forbes Arena.
Kentucky State, now 15-11 overall, advances to the semifinals to face Benedict at 1 p.m. on Friday.
The Thorobrettes had as much as a nine-point lead, 28-19, in the first half, but the Lady Lions, behind the hot shooting of Ashley Watts, who finished with a game-high 29 points, rallied to take the lead early in the second half. A 3-pointer by Watts gave Paine its first lead of the game, 31-30, with 18:30 left in the game.
Paine was able to build as much as a four-point lead, the last time on a jumper by Kiara Johnson, to give the Lady Lions a 39-35 lead at the 16:14 mark.
With Paine holding a 41-39 lead, the Thorobrettes went on a 10-2 run to take the lead for good. Lloyd led off the run with a jumper, and closed out the run with another jumper, giving Kentucky State a 49-43 lead with 10:21 to play.
Paine fought to stay in the game, and cut the lead to 56-53 on a 3-pointer by Watts with 5:18 to play. The Thorobrettes responded by scoring the next six points. Paine’s Kiara Farley came back with a jumper, but Kentucky State’s Sharnita Lloyd drilled a 3-pointer to push the lead to 10 points, 65-55, with 2:33 left to play.
A three-point play by Farley with 35 seconds left made it 70-66 and Paine fouled, putting Lloyd on the line. She made the first, but Kentucky State’s Taylor Jones rebounded the miss, which led to a Taylor Jones layup and a 73-66 lead with 30 seconds left.
Jasmine Davis added 13 points for Kentucky State, while Style Harper scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Lashonda Canty had 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for Paine.
Kentucky State shot 41.7 percent compared to 38.7 percent for Paine. Paine had the edge in rebounding, 42-37. But the biggest statistical difference was at the free-throw line, where Kentucky State had 37 attempts, making 31, while Paine attempted six free throws, making five.
Paine wraps up its season with a 12-16 record.
Game 2: Morehouse uses a late rally and free throws to knock off Kentucky State
#2E Morehouse 73, Kentucky State 71
Box Score
ATLANTA, Ga. – In one of the most closely contested games of the tournament, #2E Morehouse edged #3W Kentucky State University 66-65 in the quarterfinals of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament on Thursday as Darrius Williams sank two free throws with 12.7 seconds left in the game.
Morehouse advances to the semifinals, where the Maroon Tigers will face #1W Tuskegee at 3:15 p.m. on Friday.
Williams finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for Morehouse, now 19-7. Shawn Allen had 12 points, while Austin Anderson added 11 and Malcolm Frank had 10. Andrae Nelson had a game-high 13 rebounds.
Darquell Pulliam led the Thorobreds with 21 points, while Patrick Dawson added 15. Brandon Darrett registered eight blocked shots. Kentucky State ends its season 15-12.
There were 11 lead changes and the score was tied seven times. The second half was especially close, with the largest lead six points.
Kentucky State had a 65-59 lead with 4:35 left to play after a pair of free throws by Ulysses Thomass III. Williams then scored five straight points for the Maroon Tigers on a pair of jumpers and a free throw to cut the lead to 65-64 with a minute left in the game.
A steal by Williams gave the Maroon Tigers the ball back, but Darrett swatted away Williams’ shot.
Frank missed a 3-pointer for Morehouse, and Kentucky State’s Troy Adams was fouled. Adams missed the front end of the one-and-one and Williams rebounded the ball. He was fouled and went to the line with 12.7 seconds left and calmly sank both shots to give the Maroon Tigers their first lead since the 7:13 mark, 55-53.
Kentucky State worked the ball around and got the ball to Thomass, who took a long jumper in the corner, but it missed the mark.
The Thorobreds led for much of the first half, with a 3-pointer by Pulliam giving Kentucky State a 35-25 advantage, the largest lead of the game, with 2:14 left in the half. Frank sank a 3-pointer for the Maroon Tigers with six seconds on the clock to cut the lead to 38-25 at the break.
Statistically, the two teams were fairly even. Kentucky State shot 44 percent, while Morehouse shot 41.3 percent. Kentucky State shot 80 percent from the line, while Morehouse shot 77 percent.
Morehouse had a 42-27 advantage in rebounding, which gave the Maroon Tigers a 16-0 advantage in second-chance points.
In their only regular-season meeting, Morehouse defeated Tuskegee 79-51 on Jan. 5.
Game 3: Clark Atlanta headed to the semifinals after victory over Claflin
#2E Clark Atlanta 67, #6E Claflin 63
Box Score
After starting Wednesday night’s game against Claflin with an 11-1 run to start the game, the Lady Panthers of Clark Atlanta led wire-to-wire in their 67-63 victory.
Clark Atlanta was led by its All-Conference guard Cornisha Hicks, who finished with a team-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds. Shavon Caldwell also scored ten points, and CAU won a game in which they weren’t really threatened, even after going nearly four minutes in the first half without a field goal.
Clark Atlanta will face #4E Fort Valley State tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the 2013 Basketball Tournament.
There was also a tremendous rebounding advantage for Clark Atlanta, led by three Lady Panthers that had at least 12 rebounds in the quarterfinal contest.
Clark Atlanta's other All-Conference performer La’Quisha Lewis was one of two CAU players to finish with a double-double, as she had a game-high 13 boards to go with 11 points. Denissea Law also had 12 rebounds to go with 11 points. The final rebounding margin was heavily in favor for the home team, by a comparison of 60-38.
The victory over the Orangeburg, S.C. school ensures a three-game sweep for Clark Atlanta. The Lady Panthers earned a pair of 70-66 victories in which Hicks was the leading scorer in both contests. She averaged 21 points per game in the pair of victories, and both games were in the middle of four game winning streaks
The Lady Panthers now face the enviable task of trying to defeat the same opponent three times in one season once again. Clark Atlanta earned their first victory at home over Fort Valley State Feb. 4 in a 66-60 win in which Lewis led the team in scoring, with 16 points.
In the second victory, a 75-69 triumph to wrap up the regular season, Caldwell led the Lady Panthers in scoring with 17 points. Erika Sumpter had double-digit rebounding totals in both games, combining for 21 boards in the pair of victories.
For Claflin, the loss marks the end to a promising tournament run where the team defeated #3W Stillman 82-62 in the opening round of the tournament.
The Lady Panthers were led by Talaya Robinson, who had a game-high 29 points. Laquanda Williams also finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Clark which finished the season 6-21.
Lions rip open Tigers in second half
#3E Paine 86, #2W Stillman 64
Box Score
Atlanta, GA--After finishing first half that had six different lead changes, a tie at halftime, #3E Paine College caught fire in the second half shooting 64 percent from the field and scoring 50 points en route running away from #3E Stillman for a 86-64 victory, Thursday Night at Frank L. Forbes Arena.
Jerel Stephenson and Sean Morgan each scored 18 points, while Darius Smith added 14 points for the Lions, which will face #1E Benedict tomorrow evening in the semifinals matchup at 7:45 p.m.
The game had the makings of a competitive contest, until both teams started the second half. Paine College started off the half with an 11-1 run in the first 2:38 after halftime, and the Lions led by as many as 22 points, while Stillman went cold from behind the arc after shooting the ball well for the first 20 minutes.
Jeffrey Wherry, the game’s leading scorer, had 22 points in a losing cause for the Tigers. Markeith Madison (14 points) and Torrean Walker (a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds) also scored in double figures for Stillman, but they could not overcome Paine's ability to score on the other end of the court.
To compliment Stephenson, Morgan, and Smith's effort, Adrian Caldwell and Allen Young scored 12 and ten, respectively, to give Paine five players in double figures.
Paine outshot Stillman from the floor for the entire game, but was able to kick into high gear after halftime. The high shooting counterbalanced the deficit that they had in the turnover column to Stillman, as the Tigers committed seven fewer giveaways than the Lions (11 to 18). For the game, the Lions outshot the Tigers 56.5 percent to 30.4 percent.
The Lions will get one more crack at Benedict College tomorrow after dropping an identical pair of 70-64 losses to the South Carolina school near the end of the regular season. In those losses, Mario Jordan was the leading scorer in both games, as he score 21 points in the game played Feb. 2 and 17 points in the home loss played Feb. 23.