The first half of Thursday’s SWAC quarterfinal matchup had Alcorn State taking it to Texas Southern. But Texas Southern is headed to the SWAC semifinals after a big second half which led to a 78-55 win over ASU.
Texas Southern will meet up with SWAC co-champion Jackson State on Friday at 2 PM CST. The winner will advance to the SWAC Championship Game on Saturday.
Karl Nicholas scored a game-high 24 points for the Tigers along with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
Alcorn State led 34-32 at halftime after holding TXSU to 37.5 percent shooting. TXSU came out looking like a different team in the second half, shooting a blazing 62 percent from the field. It outscored Alcorn State 46-21 in the final 20 minutes.
Three other players joined Nicholas in double-figures. John Walker had 14, SWAC Newcomer of The Year Michael Weathers had 13 points and Justin Hopkins added 10.
The win was the sixth in a row for Texas Southern and its 10th in its last 11 contests. It will now look to stop a JSU team that has not lost a game to a SWAC opponent this season, winning 12 in a row including Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup. JSU and TXSU did not meet in the regular season, however, so this will be the first matchup this season between the two programs.