Getting leads in games hasn’t been a problem for Mississippi Valley State, but keeping them has been.
MVSU watched a 14-point halftime lead evaporate in the second half as Alabama State rallied for a 73-62 win Saturday at the Leflore County Civic Center.
“We’ve got to work on something to help us sustain leads. You can’t just rely on perimeter shots. You have to be able to go inside,” Valley coach Andre Payne said.
It was a disappointing loss for sure. Outside of blowing a double-digit lead, the Delta Devils lost at home to the struggling Hornets (8-14, 3-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference), who are now 2-0 against Valley (4-20, 4-6) this season.
“We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep fighting. We are a young team that’s trying to put it all together,” Payne said.
It didn’t help Valley Saturday that its leading scorer, Isaac Williams, had a bad shooting night. He hit just 2-of-15 shots from the field, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range, en route to scoring seven points — nearly 10 shy of his average in league games.
“We’ve got to have some other guys step up when other guys we count on are having a rough game,” Payne said.
The Hornets trailed 41-27 at the break but opened the second half with a 10-0 run to get back in it. But a Marcus Romain layup with 12:26 to play put Valley up 52-42.
With 6:08 to go, ASU took its first lead in 18 minutes of play, 55-54, on a 3-pointer from Jamel Waters. He hit another trey a minute later to make sure the Hornets held the lead the rest of the way.
After two free throws from Romain, Valley trailed by just two, 64-62, with 2:37 to play, but the Hornets scored the last nine points of the contest to seal the deal.
Romain led Valley with 17 points, while Kylan Phillips added 11.
ASU’s Torloft Thomas scored 17 of his 22 game-high points in the second half. He made four 3-pointers, finished 5 of 5 from the floor and made all three free-throw attempts in the second half.
In its first game without head coach Elvis Robinson, the Valley women’s team lost 79-51 to drop its ninth straight game.
Robinson was fired last week, and assistant coach Melvin Williams was named interim head coach.
Zemoria Jernigan finished with 19 points to lead Valley (3-17, 1-9), while Christina Reed added 18 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Valley hosts Alabama A&M on Monday.
