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NEW ORLEANS -- Nour Abbes produced a dominating victory at the top women's singles flight Saturday, but she was the lone Xavier University of Louisiana player to score in a 6-1 loss to Tulane at City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center.
Abbes, a sophomore and the NAIA's top-ranked singles player, defeated Naz Karagoz 6-0, 6-2. It was the 32nd victory in 33 singles decisions for Abbes.
Tulane (5-0) won the doubles point with victories at the second and third flights, and the Green Wave dropped a collective six games in the other five singles matches.
Abbes and Carmen Nelson were still on the court with a tie at 4 against Karagoz and Sade Atkinson when Tulane clinched the doubles point.
Xavier (1-1) is ranked third in the NAIA. It was the first of six dual matches for the Gold Nuggets this season against NCAA Division I opponents.
"Tough matchup for us today," XU coach Alan Green said. "Doubles play was decent but we could get better there. Nour had a good match and won convincingly."
The Gold Nuggets will play twice at home next weekend -- noon Saturday against Belhaven and noon Sunday against LSU-Alexandria. Xavier's next men's dual will start at 6 p.m. Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette.
NOTES: Green said he added to the schedule men's and women's duals against Northwestern Ohio. Those will be played March 29 during XU's trip to California, but venue and time have not been determined. Northwestern Ohio's women are ranked 19th in the NAIA, and the men were 12th in the 2014 postseason poll.
JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee -- Senior guardJalen Riley(Racine, Wis.) scored the final 12 points and finished with a game-high 24, as the ETSU men’s basketball team closed on a 15-1 offensive run to cap a dramatic 61-59 comeback win over North Carolina Central Saturday evening inside Freedom Hall.
Riley hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation, and the Bucs defense then held the Eagles on their final offensive possession of the game. With the win, ETSU improved to 13-8 on the season while also snapping the Eagles 10-game winning streak. With the loss, North Carolina Central dropped to 16-6 on the year.
“That’s a huge win – one that we may look back on a few weeks from now and really say that one was big,” said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak. “That’s what Jalen can do. He can make some really big shots and he did that tonight. (North Carolina Central) is a really good team, a NCAA tournament team. That’s a great win.”
The Bucs trailed by double digits throughout most of the second half and were facing a 12-point deficit at 58-46 with 5:44 left in regulation. At that point, sophomore guard Devin Harris (Tampa, Fla.) made three of four free throws on back-to-back possessions, and Riley hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-52.
N.C. Central’s Anthony McDonald then made one of two at the foul line before Riley closed the game with nine straight points, including the game-winning 3-pointer. The Eagles had one last opportunity to tie or win, but the Bucs forced N.C. Central’s Karamo Jawara to force up a desperation 3-pointer that missed the mark at the buzzer.
For the game, Riley was joined in double figures by junior forward Lester Wilson (Knoxville), who finished with 10. The Eagles got a team-high 22 from McDonald, while Jordan Parks and Jawara netted 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Bucs opened the first half with a pair of 3-pointers from Wilson and A.J. Merriweather (Jackson) to take an early 6-0 lead. ETSU’s advantage then grew to seven at 10-3, but at that point N.C. Central went on a 10-0 run of its own to grab a 13-10 edge. The Eagles went on to ultimately build a 10-point lead at 30-20 with five minutes left in the half.
ETSU used a 6-0 run to get to within four at 32-28, but a 3-pointer by Karamo Jawara at the first half buzzer made it 35-28 at the break. In the first half, N.C. Central shot 54 percent from the field and held an 18-14 advantage on the glass.
In the second half, the Eagles opened with a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 42-28. ETSU responded with its own 7-0 spurt to get back to within seven, but later on N.C. Central still led by 10 at 56-46 with 7:42 left in regulation.
The Eagles’ advantage then grew to 58-46 before the Bucs started their comeback.
ETSU finished the game with a season-low four turnovers, shooting 36 percent from the floor and holding its own on the glass, as the Eagles held a 34-33 edge in the paint.
N.C. Central finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the 3-point line. The Eagles’ 50 percent effort (6-of-12) at the foul line was critical to the outcome, especially late in the contest when the Eagles went 1-of-4 at the charity stripe over the last two minutes of the game.
The Bucs will be home again to take on SoCon foe Wofford on Thursday night, with tip set for 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. For more on ETSU men’s basketball throughout the 2014-15 season, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s hoops link.
NORFOLK, Virginia --Hampton University again put itself in position to win, and again late game details haunted the Pirates.
Norfolk State stars Jeff Short and RaShid Gaston made critical plays in the final minutes to carry the Spartans to a 63-60 win Saturday at jam-packed Echols Hall in a typically fierce matchup between the rivals.
“We’re snake-bitten right now, but we’ll get through it,” HU coach Ed Joyner Jr., said. “We’ve got the month of February. We’re going to get better and we’ll be OK.”
The Pirates (8-13, 4-5 MEAC) dropped their fifth consecutive conference game, their longest losing streak since Jan. 1999.
“Everybody hurts,” Pirates’ guard Deron Powers said, “but I think we’re still pushing toward our goal at the end of the year, and that’s to win the MEAC championship, and that’s not over.”
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State Bulldogs avenged its early season loss with a, 78-74, victory over Delaware State Saturday (Jan. 31) at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. "It was a great win tonight and I would like to thank the fans and all loyal Bulldog supporters for coming out tonight," said SC State head coach Murray Garvin. "Anytime you play a good team like Delaware State, one of the better teams in the conference it's going to be a dog fight.
The Bulldogs had four players in double figures with freshman guard Edward Stephensleading the way with a team-high 21 points, five rebounds and four assist. Sophomore guard Greg Mortimer tossed in 13, while junior forward Darryl Palmer fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Freshman forward Tashombe Riley added 10 points and four rebounds in the victory. SC State controlled the boards majority of the game out-rebounding Delaware State 44-39, while shooting 12-of-24 (50%) from the free-throw line.
All-MEAC forward Kendall Gray finished with the games only double-double with 21 points and 16 rebounds, while senior guard Amere May tossed in 22 and guard Kendall Williams added 20 in the loss.
SC State led Delaware State by as many as 14, 56-42, late in the second-half before the Hornets sparked a 15-4 run off three-pointers by May, Williams and senior forward Tyshawn Bell to cut the lead to three, 60-53 with 5:10 remaining.
A dunk by Gray with 0:17 seconds remaining pulled the Hornets within two, 76-74, but free-throws were the deciding factor down the stretch with Riley connecting on a pair from the charity stripe to seal the 78-74 victory.
"Our guys are finally having fun and playing Bulldog basketball, so things are finally turning around for us and it feels good to be 6-3 in league play at this point," said Garvin.
SC State returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 4) against St. Andrews College in a non-conference matchup at Smith –Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. Tipoff is 7 p.m. For more information on South Carolina State University basketball, please call the Office of Athletic Media Relations at (803) 536-7060, or visit the official Bulldogs website.
BOX SCORE COURTESY SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- Winston-Salem State got a little revenge on Livingstone with a hard-fought 89-80 win at Joel Coliseum on Saturday night.
The Rams lost to the Blue Bears in last year’s CIAA championship game, but balanced scoring and better defense in the second half put them over the top.
“We talked about getting revenge all week,” guard Kerry Campbell of the Rams said. “This was a big win for us and we turned it up in the second half. Our defense was a lot better and that was a big key.”
Another key was the play of Donta Harper, who scored 20 points in 26 minutes. Harper, an undersized center at about 6-5, used his quickness to go right at the Blue Bears — and for one stretch in the second half, Harper couldn’t be stopped.
“I was just taking what the defense gave me and found some openings,” said Harper, who was 7 of 15 from the field. “We needed a win like this in the division because they were in first place.”
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- My name is Dennis Richmond Jr. and I am a 19-year-old African Diaspora Studies major with a minor in mass communications matriculating at Claflin University in Orangeburg. I am a native of Yonkers, New York, and a 2013 graduate of Riverside High School.
As one of my mentors, Professor Patricia Koger of South Carolina, would say: I am “beating the drum” for college education across the Lower Hudson Valley and Harlem. The Journal Newspaper mentioned me as did Jet in its magazine as I am executing an initiative about HBCUs. The initiative is important since many New York residents in Westchester do not know about Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
I received a call from Dr. George Cooper, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. I will be working with the White House during this effort. I have also raised the funds to create a short documentary about the HBCU experience and I am beginning a web series to discuss the modern-day college experience with hundreds of students on the campuses of Claflin University and South Carolina State University.
I started down this path because I know that in Westchester County, many students do not know about HBCUs, as the schools are not a part of the Northern experience. The atmosphere in New York tolls the bells for SUNYs, CUNYs and community colleges, where as in the Southern areas of the United States, there are more than 100 HBCUs. Unfortunately, since the 1980s, many HBCUs have been closing their doors and are continuing to do so. Students are not applying to attend HBCUs due to lack of interest and receiving a misguidance that most are party schools. CONTINUE READING
HOUSTON, Texas -- Madarious Gibbs scored 24 points, and Texas Southern beat Alabama State 80-65 on Saturday at H&PE Arena.
The win pulls TSU (10-11) into a tie with Alabama State (11-6) atop the Southwestern Athletic Conference at 7-1.
TSU ran off eight straight points midway through the first half - four on a pair of Malcolm Riley layups - and led 41-34 at the break.
The Tigers pushed the lead over 20 on Riley's trey with 9:29 left and cruised to the win.
Gibbs was 10-of-20 from the field with five assists. Riley finished with 17 points and eight boards, and Chris Thomas had 10 points. TSU shot 55 percent and was 10-of-18 beyond the arc.
NEW ORLEANS -- Alena Evans' 12 points and six rebounds Saturday led Dillard to a 53-42 women's basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana at DU's Dent Hall.
The Gold Nuggets (12-11, 5-2 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference) lost to the Lady Bleu Devils (12-8, 4-2) for the first time in 13 meetings.
Evans scored in double figures for the 13th consecutive game. Ciara Morgan had 11 points and six rebounds for Dillard, and Keylantra Taylor had 10 points and three steals.
Alesha Smith led Xavier with nine points. Donyeah Mayfield grabbed 10 rebounds and reached double figures for the fourth time this season.
Dillard led for the final 37:51. The Lady Bleu Devils led 25-15 at halftime and twice held 16-point leads in the second half.
Kelsey Joseph's basket with 3:12 remaining cut Dillard's deficit to 40-34, but Dillard clinched the victory by scoring 12 of the next 14 points. Kaylynn Walker's two free throws capped the run and gave the Lady Bleu Devils a 52-36 advantage in the final minute.
Xavier scored its fewest ever against Dillard and its fewest points overall since a 38-37 victory against William Carey in the GCAC Tournament quarterfinals on Feb. 28, 2007, at The Barn.
Xavier leads the series with its longtime city rival 62-20 and won 21 of the past 23 meetings. The teams will play again at 5 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Crosstown Classic at XU's Convocation Center.
NEW ORLEANS -- Sydney Coleman scored 15 points Saturday, and Morris Wright's drawn charge, defensive rebound and two free throws in the closing seconds helped NAIA No. 19 Xavier University of Louisiana secure a 54-49 men's basketball victory against Dillard.
The Gold Rush (17-6, 6-1 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference) extended its season-best win streak to six games. Xavier clinched a 15th consecutive winning season, which extended a school record.
Xavier beat its longtime city rival for the 11th consecutive time at Dillard's Dent Hall -- the streak began in 2002 -- and beat the Bleu Devils (3-18, 1-5) for the 21st time in 24 meetings during Dannton Jackson's 12 seasons as XU's head coach.
"It was a hard-fought game by both teams for 40 minutes," said Jackson, who is 266-113 with the Gold Rush. "We kept our composure in an emotional atmosphere and got some key stops at the end."
Dillard erased most of a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes and twice had a chance to tie with 3-pointers in the final minute. But Wright drew a charge against JaCarre Crockett with 31 seconds remaining, passed to Coleman on the next possession for Xavier's final field goal, then grabbed a rebound and made two free throws after Houston Chatman missed a 3-pointer for Dillard with Xavier leading 52-49.
Wright had 14 points, made two of Xavier's four 3-pointers and produced a career-high-tying five steals.
Jarrain Jenkins scored 13 points and Kristopher Allmon 10 for Dillard, which has lost 32 of its last 35 games.
Jarvis Thibodeaux's 3-point play with 19:08 remaining put Xavier ahead to stay, 29-26. Before that there were five ties and four lead changes. Xavier led 26-24 at halftime.
The Gold Rush outshot the Bleu Devils 58.8 to 32.6 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 29-22. Xavier committed 10 turnovers, its fewest in the last 22 games of the series.
Xavier leads the series 81-48. The teams will meet at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Crosstown Classic at XU's Convocation Center.
Xavier began its streak of winning seasons in 1999-2000, when Jackson was an assistant to Dale Valdery. Earlier in the week, Xavier extended its streak of consecutive non-losing seasons to 24.
"It's all about the guys who play the game," Jackson said of XU's continued success. "They've weathered different storms, established chemistry. Day in and day out they do the hard work. It's about them. It's about team. They've faced adversity many times, and their success is a monument to their toughness and their will."
Next for the Gold Rush will be a 7:30 p.m. Monday game against GCAC opponent Edward Waters at the Convocation Center. It's the opener of a three-game home stand.
PRINCESS ANN, Maryland -- The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Men’s basketball team couldn’t have played much worse for the first 12 minutes of Saturday’s home matchup with Coppin State.
And the Eagles took advantage getting out to a 34-21 lead, while hitting often from the outside.
But the Hawks (13-10, 5-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) clawed their way back to within three at the half and then went on to a 92-82 win.
Devon Walker and Dominique Elliott propelled the first-half comeback with 17 and 12 points respectively. Walker was dropping 3s with no conscience and finished the first half 5 of 6.
In the second half, it was Ryan Andino who was on from the outside dropping four from behind the arc and finishing with 14 points.
NORFOLK, Virginia -- Hampton University's women went almost three years without losing a conference game. They've lost two in the past eight days.
The Lady Pirates' dominance of rival Norfolk State ended Saturday amid an avalanche of missed shots and spotty defense.
The Spartans overcame early deficits and made plays at critical times for a 71-66 win in overtime at Echols Hall, snapping a 17-game losing streak in the series that stretched back more than eight years.
Hampton (10-11, 6-2 MEAC) remained in first place in the conference, one game in the loss column ahead of Savannah State and Norfolk State. But the league race is unofficially wide open after the Lady Pirates' second consecutive Saturday loss.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Kendra Cooper and Terrenisha Hollis scored 19 points apiece to lead the visiting Bethune-Cookman women's basketball team to a 70-57 victory Saturday against Florida A&M in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action at The Lawson Center.
Hollis had eight rebounds, eight assists and eight steals for the Wildcats (9-12, 6-3 MEAC), who have won five consecutive games overall, the first time that has occured since 2009-10. Kailyn Williams contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and a game-highs seven blocks. It is her fourth double-double in the past five games.
It also was the first win for coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis against the Rattlers in Tallahassee.
“(The win) feels great,” Blair-Lewis said. “It's really great for these young ladies to come out here and not just win, but turn four wins into five wins.”
ORLANDO, Florida -- For most who follow National Signing Day, football recruits often are viewed through the promise of coming days.
Saturdays, mostly.
A player's value directly correlates to his production on the field for his chosen school. How he got there matters little. What he does once he arrives means everything.
At Oak Ridge, Nyqwan Murray (FSU), Deangelo Antoine (USF), Jehojada Jean-Baptiste (Florida A&M)and Darren Bostick (Nassau Community College in VINew York) are expected to sign Wednesday. They will be not unlike many of the estimated 150 area football players who eventually make their commitments official with Football Bowl Subdivision or Football Championship Subdivision schools.
RAYNARD WARE MOREHOUSE COLLEGE MAROON TIGERS FOOTBALL
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The friend request popped onto Josh Kaplowitz’s Facebook page one afternoon. He was at his office at a top-shelf D.C. law firm, but the name on the screen transported him to a very different place, a decade earlier, to a time of humiliation and failure.
Just seeing Raynard Ware’s name that January day in 2012 spiked the young lawyer’s heart rate. His first thought: “You ruined my life.” It had been only in the past few years that Kaplowitz had been able to live without The Incident looming over him — the assault allegation, the arrest, 33 hours in a detention cell, trial, acquittal, a $20 million lawsuit against him, the impossibility of knowing if he would ever really recover.
Even now, with a new career and a family, Kaplowitz had yet to tell his children about what 7-year-old Raynard had said he had done to him. Kaplowitz hadn’t even told his kids that he had been a D.C. public school teacher — an idealist fresh out of Yale who thought he was going to help transform the lives of poor, inner-city children but who was instead besieged by unruly kids and, then, in a whirlwind of accusations and acrimony, was said to have pushed a 7-year-old to the floor.
NORFOLK, Virginia -- Jeff Short admits he sometimes peruses the NCAA scoring stats just to see his name ahead of players from powers like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.
The online list proves two things: that Short, after a major detour that had him buried on the bench of his hometown team, has finally arrived, and that what he's doing at Norfolk State is not a dream.
Short, a 6-foot-4 native of the Bronx, N.Y., leads the MEAC and is 15th in the country with 20.0 points per game entering today's 6 p.m. showdown with rival Hampton.
Only four players in the nation have made more field goals than Short's 156, and the guard is a big reason the Spartans (14-9, 7-1 MEAC) remain contenders for a regular-season title with just eight games left.
But Short, a product of New York City's fabled AAU system, came by it the hard way. Basketball was his way out of an adolescence fraught with temptations like gangs, drugs, violence and other distractions.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana dropped a collective 21 games out of 193 Friday and opened the spring 2015 portion of its men's and women's tennis schedules with 9-0 victories against city rival Loyola at XU Tennis Center.
The Gold Nuggets are ranked third in the NAIA, and the Gold Rush are eighth.
Xavier did not lose a game in 7-of-16 matches. The Gold Nuggets won 6-0, 6-0 in 4-of-5 contested singles matches. Loyola defaulted two women's matches because it had five available players.
Winning 6-0, 6-0 in singles for the Gold Nuggets were Carmen Nelson, Brion Flowers, Sha'Nel Bruins and Dasia Harris. Tushar Mandlekar won by the same score for the Gold Rush. Flowers and Bruins won 8-0 in doubles, as did Kyle Montrel and Jordan Harrell in men's doubles.
Montrel clinched the men's dual with a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Trivesh Singh at No. 1 singles. Nelson's shutout of Alexa Mancuso clinched the women's dual.
Nour Abbes, the NAIA's top-ranked women's singles player, defeated Meghan de Baroncelli 6-1, 6-1. Abbes, a sophomore, is 31-1 in singles at Xavier. Abbes and Nelson beat Baroncelli and Mancuso 8-2 in doubles.
Harris, a redshirt freshman, competed in a collegiate dual match for the first time. So did first-year freshman Jeremiah Capdeville, who dropped the first three games against Anthony Zaleski but rallied for a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 6 men's singles.
"It felt good to get the season started again," 12th-year XU coach Alan Green said. "Everyone was feeling good today, and we showed it with some efficient victories. It will be a long season, and hopefully we can learn something from each match and improve each time we get on the court."
Both Loyola teams are 0-2.
In six seasons of competition against Loyola, Xavier has lost just two matches on the court — none since 2011.
The Gold Nuggets will play another city rival, Tulane (3-0), at 2 p.m. Saturday at City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center. The next Gold Rush dual will start at 6 p.m. Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette.
January 31, 2015
1:00 P.M. EST – Women/3:00 P.M. EST – Men
AL Lawson Center;Tallahassee, Florida
General Admission $10/With canned good $5
Family 4 Pack $20
Video: Rattler Vision
TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- In 1985 FAMU women’s basketball team was first in the state and 14th nationally in attendance, averaging 1,555 attendees per game. In February of 1986 these Rattlerettes would face the FSU Seminoles before a crowd of 2,301 of mostly Rattler partisan fans in the Tallahassee Civic Center. It was FAMU back then who had most of the fan support. In fact, during the 1985 game between Florida State and FAMU with FSU as the home team, the FAMU pep band was requested to play the national anthem because the Seminole pep band was too small to tackle the feat.
FAMU starters, sisters Ester and Gail Myrick, and Valerie Seay would challenge all comers including the University of Central Florida, who along with the Rattlerettes were part of the New South Women’s Athletic Conference. The Rattlerettes did it as much with their defense as they did with their offense. They became the top defensive team in the conference holding other teams to 65 points per game. One star on that team, 5’10 small forward Cynthia Lee, remembers how tenacious they were on defense. “I remember this girl named Sue on FSU’s team, who could kill it with set shots. My goal (defensively) was to not let her get in her rhythm.”
Livingstone Blue Bears who were previously ranked 18th has jumped to the 11th spot on the USA Today's TOP 25, NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- Coach Anita Howard of the Livingstone women’s basketball team hasn’t received any tickets yet driving back and forth from Winston-Salem to Salisbury.
“No, I’ve been pretty good about that,” said Howard, who will bring the 19-0 Blue Bears to Joel Coliseum tonight for a 6:30 p.m. game against Winston-Salem State.
Howard — whose husband, Theo, works at WSSU — spent the last two seasons building a winner at Salem College before moving on to Livingstone.
In just her first season, it’s obvious that the Blue Bears are a favorite to halt Shaw’s dominance of the CIAA Tournament. Shaw is the four-time defending league champion — but Livingstone rolled to a 78-60 win over Shaw in Raleigh earlier this season.
HAMPTON, Virginia — Two weeks ago, Hampton University was tied for first in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and looked every bit a contender — a deep team with plenty of options, steeled by a challenging nonleague schedule.
Fourteen days later, the Pirates reside in the middle of the pack after a series of near-misses and squandered opportunities. They will try to regain their footing against their chief rival, a Norfolk State team that sits near the top of the league, at about 6 p.m. Saturday at the Spartans’ Echols Hall.
“I think we’re down on our confidence,” Pirates coach Ed Joyner Jr. said. “When you blow one or two (games), if your confidence ain’t right, it can turn into three, into four. We’ve got to go win a ballgame. Each game we’ve had good starts. We had good stretches. We just didn’t close them out properly.”
The Pirates (8-12, 4-4 MEAC) have lost four in a row, the program’s longest conference losing streak since January 1999, when they lost five in a row in former coach Steve Merfeld’s second season.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Even though Byron Samuels in his first year as Florida A&M’s head men’s basketball coach, he knows exactly how important a game against Bethune-Cookman is to the fans.
Samuels and the Rattlers (0-20, 0-7 MEAC) play a home game against the Wildcats (6-15, 2-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Al Lawson Center. It’s a game university officials are marketing heavily in order to get additional fans in seats.
“We know it’s not just another game,” Samuels said.
“Our kids understand that. We’ll get a few moments in practice and go over our scouting report and talk about the keys to the game and keys to success on Saturday. Game plan in (Thursday), practice it (Friday), execute it on Saturday. I’m very familiar with the game and all aspects of the rivalry.”
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- The Southern women’s basketball team concludes the first half of the Southwestern Athletic Conference season when it visits Alcorn State at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The Jaguars (6-2 and 8-10 overall) have come a long way since a rocky start to the conference schedule.
The preseason favorite lost two its first three games, matching its loss total during its title run last season.
But since then, Southern has won five straight and only its last victory (53-49 at Alabama State on Monday) was by fewer than 16 points.
“We’re playing more as a team,” guard Britney Washington said. “At first, coach (Sandy Pugh) was telling us that we were taking the ‘me shot’ instead of the ‘we shot’. We’ve gotten better, and we’re moving the ball better.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana --The Southern men’s basketball team is in third place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
If the Jaguars had come up with one more basket or one more defensive stop at the right moment in their two losses, they’d be undefeated in the SWAC and sitting all alone in first place.
That’s how close they are to being the pace-setter, but instead they’re 6-2, a half-game behind Texas Southern, a game and a half behind Alabama State and down in the tie-breaker to both as they prepare to visit Alcorn State (3-5, 4-16) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“We haven’t learned how to put it all together yet,” coach Roman Banks said.
In Southern’s 59-58 loss at home to Texas Southern on Jan.
5, the Jaguars led by a point with less than a minute to play, missed a free throw that would have given them a two-point lead with 28 seconds left and sank a 3-pointer a second after the final buzzer sounded.
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- This season, the Alabama State Hornets have created a healthy buzz on campus by finishing strong.
Monday night, the Acadome was rocking as ASU's first-place showdown with Southern tipped off, but there was cold silence after the Hornets fell down by 17.
"We got off to a slow start and they kind of just pushed us around," Hornets coach Lewis Jackson said. "They got any shot that they wanted. Defensively, they really got into us."
Then, as the first half drew to a close, the Hornets showed signs of life.
Steve Rogers hit a 3-pointer, his only bucket of the game. After DeMarcus Robinson's steal and layup, the Hornets ended the first half with a Luther Page slam. A 17-point deficit had been cut to 10.
First-ever Honda Power of Dreams Award honoree's lifelong dedication to serving HBCU students is rewarded with on-field surprise: a 2015 Honda CR-V.
ATLANTA, Georgia -- Nearly 60,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome to watch top marching bands from America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) rock the house at the 13th annual Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase on Jan. 24, 2015.
Highlights from this year's Invitational Showcase include:
More than 2,100 student musicians took to the field for a memorable mass band performance.
The Marching Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University performed at a record tenth straight Invitational Showcase; the Howard University Showtime Marching Band and Talladega College Marching Tornado Band performed for the first time.
Tens of thousands of fan-produced social media posts using "#HBOB" helped spread the message around the world.
Ms. Audrey Stradford was named the first-ever Honda Power of Dreams Award honoree for her lifelong dedication to serving HBCU students and the Tennessee State University community, and was awarded a brand new 2015 Honda CRV on the field.
Honda provided more than $200,000 in grants to participating HBCUs during the program period in support of music education.
The 2015 theme, "March On," encouraged student musicians and fans to follow their dreams despite whatever obstacles they may face.
Fans were treated to an unforgettable performance by hip-hop legends Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, and a heartwarming rendition of the national anthem by actress and singer Demetria McKinney.
"Honda congratulates the bands that participated in this year's Invitational Showcase, and thanks all of the schools, students, alumni and fans who joined us to celebrate these amazing student musicians," said Stephan Morikawa, Assistant Vice President, Corporate Community Relations, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "Honda is proud that the Invitational Showcase truly helped students realize what Honda calls The Power of Dreams."
The following eight bands performed at the 13th Annual Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase. Each band received a $20,000 grant from Honda for their school's music education program:
Alabama State University, Mighty Marching Hornets (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Howard University, Showtime Marching Band (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
Jackson State University, Sonic Boom of the South (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
North Carolina A&T University, Blue and Gold Marching Machine (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
Southern University, Human Jukebox (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Talladega College, Marching Tornado Band (Gulf Coast Athletic Conference)
Tennessee State University, Aristocrat of Bands (Ohio Valley Conference)
Honda Campus All-Star Challenge
Tune-in March 21-25, 2015 as Honda hosts the 26th installment of the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC) Nationals in Torrance, CA. HCASC is a unique academic competition that celebrates, supports and recognizes academic excellence at HBCUs. Since 1989, Honda has touched more than 100,000 students through HCASC. Learn more at http://www.hcasc.com/
For highlights, connect with Honda Battle of the Bands on social media using #HBOB.
Honda's long-standing commitment to the support and success of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) began more than 25 years ago with the establishment of the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge, a program designed to showcase the academic gifts and prowess of HBCU students. American Honda began its support of Honda Battle of the Bands more than 13 years ago as an effort to support HBCU music programs.
Honda seeks to be a company that society wants to exist, creating products and technologies that improve the lives of people while minimizing the environmental impacts of its products and business operations to ensure a sustainable future for society. Honda is also committed to making positive contributions to the communities where it does business, to socially responsible business practices and to the promotion of diversity in its workforce. From our involvement in STEM education and HBCUs to our support of pediatric brain tumor research, and support of volunteer efforts by Honda associates, including environmental clean-up activities, Honda believes in giving back to communities where it does business. Find out more at csr.honda.com.
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Where do you stand on President Obama's proposal to Congress?
LOS ANGELES, California -- Black college educators and supporters are sharply split over whether President Obama’s proposal to offer a free two-year community college education to students making progress toward earning an associate or bachelor’s degree would hurt are harm Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), a nonprofit network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), including community colleges, said that for students who have a gap in funding or choose to go to a two-year institution and don’t have adequate funding, America’s College Promise would create another opportunity for them.
“We are trying to make sure that students that want to go and get a technical certification or some training to get their foot in the door, can do that,” said Baskerville. “We also want to incentivize and facilitate students who want to get a four-year degree doing that, especially low-income students for whom options are very, very limited.”
Baskerville said that the jury is still out on whether a student would opt to go to a two-year college for free instead of going to an HBCU.
XULAATHLETICS
FAMU Rattlers vs BCU Wildcats 
