Box Score / Cornelius Hester's 19 second half points propelled A&M to its first conference win against Mississippi Valley, 72-56 at Elmore Gym. Hester had 24 points for the game, including a 4-for- 9 mark from three-point land. Bo Amusa had a perfect game behind 4-for-4 shooting from the field and a 5-for-5 mark from the stripe to go along with 5 blocks. With the win, A&M snaps its five game skid and improves to 1-3 in the conference. The Bulldogs are back in action on Sat. Jan. 16 when it faces Alabama State on the road beginning at 5 p.m.
In the second 20, A&M pushed its advantage to 15 points, 44-29 off a pair from Hester at the line. MVSU used a 12-6 run to trim the deficit to 50-41 at the 8:41 mark. Seven unanswered increased the A&M advantage back to double digits (57-41) and the Bulldogs never looked back.
For the game, A&M shot 41.5 percent (22-for-53) from the floor as they helf MVSU to a 32.1 percent clip (18-for-56). The Bulldogs also forced 24 turnovers, while committing 17 of their own. A&M’s bench outscored Valley’s bench 29-23. Jabari Deshields chipped in with six points – including a perfect 4-for-4 from the stripe – and five boards off the bench in the winning effort.
Julius Cheeks and Shannon Behling tallied 11 points apiece to lead the Devils. Joshua Mack led all bench scorers with 10, while Ricky Lamb and Darian Donald chipped in with seven. The loss drops the Devils to 2-14 on the season and 1-2 in the SWAC.
Valley ripped off a 5-0 run to begin the period. A Hilton basket at the 17:25 mark opened up scoring for the Bulldogs. The Devils led by as many as nine points, 13-4, until three points by Amusa sparked an 11-2 run to give A&M its first advantage of the game, 17-15, at 5:44. The Bulldogs held a slim 32-24 cushion heading into intermission.
Amusa led the Bulldogs at the break with nine points in 11 minutes off the bench.
A&M will play Alabama State in Montgomery, Ala. on Jan. 16. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.
