Texas Southern Tigers cruise to a season opening win over Alcorn State

LORMAN, Mississippi -- Tonnie Collier scored 27 points and Chris Thomas added 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas Southern over Alcorn State 72-55 in a Southwestern Athletic Conference opener Saturday night.

In their previous four games, all on the road, the Tigers upset then-No. 25 ranked Michigan State, lost to Auburn by a point, beat Kansas State by two then lost to New Mexico State by two.

In those four games, the Tigers held their opponents to an average of 58.4 points. That defensive trend continued against Alcorn State.

Texas Southern had a 41-18 lead at halftime. Alcorn State opened up the second half outscoring the Tigers 15-6 but didn't make much headway thereafter.

The Tigers will face Southern on Monday in a game that will be broadcast live on ESPNU.

COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION