JACKSON, Miss. – In a low scoring affair, a 14-4 second half run did the damage as Alabama A&M (6-8, 4-8 SWAC) fell at Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) undefeated Jackson State (10-5, 10-0 SWAC) by a 50-35 score in an NCAA Division I men's basketball game on Thursday, March 4.
Freshman guard
Jevon Tatum (Snellville, Ga.) led the way for the Bulldogs with 13 points and six rebounds while sophomore guard
Garrett Hicks (Madison, Ala.) registered eight points in 37 minutes of work. Sophomore forward
Jalen Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) added five boards and sophomore center
EJ Williams (Cincinnati, Ohio) had four with a pair of blocks.
In a game where you could throw out the records, at least for the first half, neither team could impose their will in the first 20 minutes as the lead never went beyond five points. It would hit that five-point margin three times, all for JSU, the last coming at 17-12 with 4:24 until the break. From there, however, the Bulldogs would battle back to score seven of the final 10 points of the frame to head to the locker room trailing just 20-19.
Out of the break the Tigers would extend to a slightly larger 25-21 advantage by the 17:22 mark only to see A&M get back within one twice before knotting things up at 27-27 four and a half minutes later. A jumper and a pair of free throws helped JSU break that trend, however, as they grew the lead to 41-31 with 5:24 to play.
That would be all they would need as they built upon that lead to the tune of 50-35 with just over a minute remaining before closing it out by that 15-point margin.
Jayveous McKinnis led the charge for the Tigers as he finished with 15 points and hauled in a whopping 16 boards, six off the offensive glass and Tristan Jarrett added nine points, five caroms and a pair of steals. Ken Evans came away with six points, nine rebounds and two steals and Cainan McClelland chipped in with eight points.
The Bulldogs close out the 2020-21 season on Saturday, March 6 as they head to Ruston, Louisiana to take on Grambling. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m.
