Alabama A&M dropped its regular season finale Saturday at Jackson State 77-63 and will face Alabama State in the first round of next week's SWAC Tournament in Birmingham. Trant Simpson led the Bulldogs with 17 points, followed by Cornelius Hester's 15.  Jonathan Belt was also in double figures with 11.  

Jackson State steadily built a 16-point lead in the first half, taking the biggest lead of the half on the final basket.  The halftime score was 44-28 in favor of the Tigers as the hosts shot 61 percent from the field in the first half.

The lead would get as big as 18 in the second half before the Bulldogs would rally with an 11-2 run to cut the margin to nine with just under three minutes to play.  A&M would get no closer.

The loss ends the regular season for the Bulldogs at 8-18 and 6-12 in the SWAC.  A&M will be the No. 8 seed and face Alabama State on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in the first round of the SWAC Tournament.