The Mississippi Valley State men’s basketball team picked up a huge 60-57 win over instate rival Jackson State Saturday at the Harrison HPER Complex.
The Delta Devils, who improve to 6-24 overall and 4-12 in SWAC play, are still in the running for a spot in the SWAC Men’s Tournament.
The Delta Devils played host to Grambling State Monday night.
Senior Jordan Evans finished with a game-high 22 points as he recorded his seventh 20-point plus game of the season. He also had nine rebounds and three assists as he made 7-of-8 shots from the free throw line.
“I just wanted to come out and play aggressively on both sides. I really want to get in the tournament if I’ve got to run the extra mile, get extra rebounds, and do extra stuff I normally don’t do to help the rest of my team,” said Evans.
Senior Emmanuel Ejeh tallied 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Fellow senior Dante Scott played the entire 40 minutes and scored 10 points.
Junior Torico Simmons led the bench scoring with eight points and two assists.
MVSU head coach Andre Payne was elated to get the win, the Delta Devils’ third in their last five games.
“Well, I’m proud of my guys, because they played so hard. They followed the game plan to the max. When they swayed off course, they got right back on course, and that’s why I’m so proud of them,” said Payne. “They laid it all out on the floor. They had to play big-time minutes. They didn’t waver; they just kept fighting. Even when Jackson State came back and took the lead, they didn’t panic. We came right back out there and did what we needed to do to recapture the lead.”
The Delta Devils shot 21-of-54 (38.9 percent) from the field, 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc, and 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the free throw line.
MVSU jumped to its largest lead of the second half, 50-42, with 7:50 left after freshman Patrick Rucker drained a three-pointer. Jackson State (10-18, 7-8 SWAC) continued to gnaw at the Delta Devils and eventually tied the game at 54 with 2:27 left to play in regulation.
Given three-second chance opportunities, Evans connected on a tip-in and then made two free throws giving the Delta Devils a 58-56 lead with 41.3 seconds remaining.
On the next possession for the Tigers, they drew a foul that could have tied the game yet again, but Venjia Wallis split the attempts and trailed MVSU with 15 seconds on the clock. The Delta Devils went on to win the game after Ejeh drained two free throws with 14.1 seconds on the clock and a game-tying three-point attempt failed for the Tigers.
Walls led JSU with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Jontrell Walker added 14 points off their bench.
Mississippi Valley will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
