THE HILL | Four players posted double figures in scoring as the Alabama A&M University men's basketball team completed a season sweep of Grambling State for the first time in 11 years with a 77-63 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) victory on Tuesday night at the AAMU Event Center.
With the win, Alabama A&M (17-13 overall, 10-7 SWAC) picked up its first sweep over Grambling State since 2015 and continued to keep the Bulldogs in a fight for the second spot in the conference standings.
Koron Davis led the Bulldogs with 15 points, seven boards and one assist, while
Lou Hutchinson registered 14 points.
Sami Pissis chipped in 12 points, four assists, three boards and two steals, and
Kintavious Dozier tossed in 10 points and five boards.
Jamal Muttilib paced Grambling State with 16 points, seven boards, one assist, one steal and one block, while Derrius Ward recorded 10 points.
Grambling State struck first as Roderick Coffee III connected on a three-pointer just seconds into the contest, helping the Tigers take an early 5-2 lead. The visitors extended the advantage to 11-5 with 15:41 remaining in the opening half following a jumper by Devyn Franklin.
Alabama A&M answered quickly behind the play of KDavis and Dozier. Davis knocked down a three-pointer before Dozier drilled a fast-break triple following a steal by
Sami Pissis, cutting the deficit to 11-10.
After a pair of free throws from
Bilal Abdur-Rahman gave the Bulldogs a 17-16 lead, Alabama A&M began to take control of the contest midway through the first half.
James Graham knocked down a three-pointer to extend the lead to 22-16, and moments later Hutchinson added a three from the wing to make it 27-18. Dozier followed with another three-pointer and P.J. Eason capped the surge with a dunk and free throw as Alabama A&M pushed the advantage to 33-18.
The Bulldogs continued to pour it on late in the half as
Koron Davis finished a layup and Dozier added another bucket in the paint to close the period with a 39-21 halftime lead.
Grambling State attempted to mount a comeback early in the second half as Ward connected on a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 39-24, but Alabama A&M responded immediately.
Dozier finished an alley-oop to push the lead back to 41-24, and Pissis followed with a driving layup to extend the margin to 43-26.
The Tigers trimmed the lead to 47-38 with just under 13 minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs again answered as
Sami Pissis knocked down a three-pointer to stretch the lead back to double digits.
Alabama A&M continued to maintain control as James Graham threw down a fast-break dunk before Eason added a transition dunk to push the lead to 64-48 with just over seven minutes remaining.
Grambling State cut the deficit to 73-63 with 2:44 left following a three-pointer from Muttilib, but the Bulldogs sealed the victory down the stretch as Hutchinson converted a pair of free throws and
Koron Davis added a late layup for the final margin.
UP NEXT
Alabama A&M concludes the regular season on Thursday night against Southern. Tip-off against the Jaguars is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from the AAMU Event Center and streamed on SWAC TV.
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