Southern’s Beltran scores 35 in win over Jackson State

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Derick Beltran started hot Monday night and never cooled off, hitting eight 3-pointers and flirting for a while with outscoring Jackson State by himself.

The senior guard finished with a career-high 35 points to lead the Jaguars to a 78-58 men’s college basketball victory, putting on a show for the crowd of 2,722 in the F.G. Clark Activity Center, well worth the $7 cost for general admission.

Beltran finished 12-of-21 from the field, including 8-of-14 from long range. He scored Southern’s first 15 points and led the rival Tigers 13-0 after five minutes.

“My coach gave me the green light, told me to be aggressive and go for the open shot,” Beltran said. “So my confidence was really high.”

Southern coach Roman Banks said he heard from his assistants before tipoff that Beltran was on the mark during pregame warmups. But he was every bit as pleased with the way Beltran, who had seven rebounds and blocked three shots, played defense.

“We’re talking about him on ...

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