Southern tops Dillard

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Tuesday night wasn’t another milestone win against a major conference opponent, but it was a win, and that’s all that matters for Southern.

After coming out on top against Mississippi State and Tulane last week, the Jaguars cruised to a 79-65 victory over NAIA member Dillard at home, extending their win streak to three games.

“We worked thorough it tonight,” Southern coach Roman Banks said. “I was concerned about getting out there and have them thinking they were just going to wash this team, and this team is actually a pretty good basketball team.”

Dillard came out in a zone defense all night, which forced Southern into shooting more from the outside.

The Jaguars shot more from behind the 3-point line in the first half of Tuesday night’s outing (20) than it had in any full game this season.

Southern finished the half shooting 25 percent from 3-point territory, led by guards Trelun Banks and Adrian Rodgers with a pair of field goals beyond the arc each.

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4-0: AAMU Bulldogs hold off Jacksonville State

JACKSONVILLE, Alabama -- The Bulldogs held off a furious comeback attempt by Jacksonville State to take a 73-69 win over the Gamecocks on Tuesday.

It was the fourth straight win for the Bulldogs to open the season.

Ladarius Tabb has 26 points and Nick West and Rakiya Battle each scored 13. Adrian Edwards scored 8 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Bulldogs had a 41-35 lead at the half and went on a 11-2 run for a 52-37 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the game.

But over the next 8 1/2 minutes, the Gamecocks grabbed the momentum as they outscored A&M 23-8 to tie the score at 60-all.

The Bulldogs battled back to hold leads of two and three points until the two teams were tied at 67-67 with just 56 seconds to play.

Battle then took over, hitting a layup, getting fouled and converting the and-one for a 70-67 lead. The junior guard made three of four free throws in the final 12 seconds to secure the win.

The Bulldogs return to action Saturday when they visit Murray State. Tipoff is 7 p.m.

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Ram Ramblings: Championships the norm this fall at WSSU

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- It’s kind of funny how athletes at WSSU are afraid to say something to me that might come back to haunt them.

For instance, it’s hard to get a football player to brag about the accomplishments of coming out of nowhere to win the CIAA title. But when it comes to Twitter those shy athletes become bolder and bolder in their proclamations.

Take Will Johnson, the All-CIAA punter/kicker who made the game-winning field goal in the title game against Bowie State on the last play of the game. I’ve known Johnson for three years now and he’s polite during interviews and isn’t about to say anything that might end up as bulletin board material.

Soon after the CIAA volleyball team won its first conference title in that sport on Sunday Johnson couldn’t help himself. On Twitter he proclaimed that WSSU runs the CIAA.

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Big wins, two close conference losses tell the story of 2015 S.C. State Bulldogs football season

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- It was quite the odd and interesting season for the South Carolina State football team.

They started the season in a sprint, playing three games in 12 days, before having a bye week and then running through three games in 15 days.

Outscoring their final two opponents by a combined tally of 69-39 in back-to-back road games didn’t make up for the Bulldogs dropping a 9-6 home game to North Carolina A&T the first week of November. A win against the Aggies would have given them a share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship.

That opportunity left, but those final two wins did make it a winning season with a 7-4 overall record and a 6-2 record in MEAC play.

“It’s sad, but it’s true,” SCSU head football coach Buddy Pough said in his season-ending press conference on Monday. “We’re done and the 2015 season is behind us.

“We’ve been somewhat successful, but I wish we’d done more.”

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McCall focused on ASU Braves, not JSU coaching job

JACKSON, Mississippi -- There's a chance Saturday's game against Alcorn State could be Jackson State interim coach Derrick McCall's last contest as the Tigers' head man.

There's also the chance it might not be.

McCall, who has aspirations of being a head coach permanently, realizes this but also knows it is out of his hands as JSU (3-7, 3-5 SWAC) prepares for the "Soul Bowl" against in-state rival and SWAC East champion Alcorn State (7-3, 6-2) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“I think it’s any coach’s dream to become a head football coach. What an opportunity it would be for me to be sitting in this (seat) permanently, but I don’t control that of course," McCall said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “Only thing I can do is go out here and try to get these kids prepared to play and get them to play above themselves … that’s been my only focus up to this point. I haven’t really been thinking about anything beyond this last ball game.”

The Tigers enter this week fresh off two consecutive losses. The latest was a blowout defeat, 56-14, at the hands of Prairie View A&M, which dropped McCall's record to 2-3 since he's taken over.

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Week 12: Grambling State Takes Over Top Spot in HSRN FCS Football Poll

HARTLEY, Delaware – Grambling State University moved into the top spot following North Carolina A&T's loss to North Carolina Central last weekend. The Tigers, who were idle last weekend, moved up from the #2 spot they had claimed for several weeks.

First place votes were distributed between GSU, N.C. A&T and Bethune-Cookman, but Grambling State accumulated enough total points to take over the #1 position

Division I/FCS

A&T's loss caused some shuffling of positions with Alabama State returning to the top 10 thanks to their homecoming victory over SIAC Champion Miles College. Tennessee State dropped out of the top 10.

Division II/NAIA

Voting for this week's poll has been suspended until the end of the playoffs.

About HSRN:
HSRN (Heritage Sports Radio Network) is the national leader in live radio broadcasts of mid-major athletics. HSRN combines innovative programming and production with a vast broadcast network. The SiriusXM platform avails partners of HSRN exposure on the world's largest radio broadcaster as measured by revenue and exposure to 28.3 million subscribers. In addition to SiriusXM, HSRN is available on terrestrial radio affiliates, smartphones and other connected devices as well as online at HSRN.com.

Second half burst carries Coppin past Chestnut Hill

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- Terry Harris led five players in double figures with his fourth consecutive double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) to lead Coppin State to a 92-75 conquest of visiting Chestnut Hill College in a non-conference men's basketball game at the Physical Education Complex Monday night.

Through four games, Harris is averaging 18.0 points and 10.5 rebounds. He is tied for the national lead in double-doubles with Georgia Tech's Charles Mitchell and FIU's Adrian Diaz. They all have four double-doubles this season. Harris also entered Monday's game ranked 44th nationally in rebounding.

Junior Christian Kessee also scored 17 points for the Eagles, who raised their overall record to 2-2 by defeating their second consecutive opponent from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). Keith Shivers and James Sylvester added 13 points. Josh Treadwell reached double digits for the third straight game with 10 points.

Coppin State also discovered its touch from deep as it made a season-best nine 3-pointers.

While the offense was solid scoring 46 points in each half, Coppin State did its best work on the defensive end especially in the second half during a game-altering 25-4 blitz over an eight-minute stretch of the second half that gave the Eagles the separation they needed to subdue the feisty Griffins (1-3 overall).

"Coach was pretty upset with us at halftime because we had allowed 40 points," Harris said. "He challenged us and told us to pick up the intensity. We still have some room to grow as a team, but I think we can have a good season if we stay focused and continue to play smart."

Clinging to a 50-47 edge with 16 minutes remaining, Jerimyjah Batts started the burst with a follow-up basket and Trevon Seymore capped it with a deep 3-pointer that swelled Coppin State's bulge to 75-51.

During this brilliant stretch of hoops, Coppin State applied a tourniquet and locked Chestnut Hill up in a straitjacket. In 14 consecutive Chestnut Hill possessions, Coppin State forced eight turnovers and four missed shots during that eight-minute stretch of defensive dominance. At times it appeared as if Coppin State had seven players on the floor as Chestnut Hill was flummoxed trying to bring the ball up against the Eagles' incessant pressure.

"I think we are getting better defensively," Treadwell said. "Tonight everything started with our defense and we stepped up our pressure especially in the full-court. We were in the right spots which helped fuel our offense. It was good to defend like that for a sustained stretch of the second half because it shows our potential."

Chestnut Hill, which scored the first seven points of the contest, threw down four dunks and was led in scoring by Luke Dickson's 15 points. However, he scored four points over the final 33 minutes of the game. Shivers did a terrific job on the Griffins' leading scorer during the second half.

Coppin State finishes its three-game homestand with a contest against local rival Towson Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

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