Top SWAC spot secure, Southern men eye more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Hours after the Southern men’s basketball team completed a 58-49 victory over Alabama State on Saturday, Alabama A&M rallied to take a 72-65 win at Alcorn State.

Those results sewed up the No. 1 seed in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament for Southern even though four games remain in the regular season.

Texas Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff join the Jaguars in a crowded chase for the regular-season title, but neither is eligible for postseason play because of low Academic Progress Rating scores. So even now, with the conference tournament nearly a month away, the Jaguars know where they will stand when they head to Garland, Texas, in search of their first NCAA tournament berth in seven years.

But as Southern (18-8, 12-2) prepares to face A&M (9-15, 5-8) on Monday in the second of three straight home games, coach Roman Banks said the Jaguars are focused on continuing to establish an identity and will enter the home stretch with much work to do.

“We’re still learning. We’re still developing,” he said. “If we can win our next game, that’s the only thing we need to be concerned about.”

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