UAPB survives bedeviling 8 seed
PINE BLUFF — George Ivory tried to warn his team about its challenge Tuesday night.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team hosted Mississippi Valley State in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, three days after it beat that same team by 37 points in the regular-season finale.
“Coach told us, ‘They’re not going to lay down for us,’ ” junior guard Quamauri Hardy said. “People don’t want to go home.”
Hardy said he heeded his coach’s advice, but it took the top-seeded Golden Lions more than 37 minutes to finally put away the eighth-seeded Delta Devils. It wasn’t until a Hardy breakaway three-point play with
2:37 left that the Golden Lions finally pulled away for a 77-73 victory in front of an announced crowd of 5,305 at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
The Golden Lions, who earned the top seed after regular-season champion Grambling State was ineligible because of Academic Progress Rate restrictions, will play Southern in a semifinal Friday night in Houston, the first time they’ve been that far in the SWAC Tournament since 2012.
It’s a pleasing result for Ivory, even if the coach was a little stressed watching his team get there.
“I think they got the monkey off the back and just getting that first game out of the way is good,” Ivory said. “I think they realize that if we play together and play like we have all year, we’ve got a chance to win the tournament.”
Martaveous McKnight, the SWAC Player of the Year, and Hardy each had 16 points, and Trent Steen added 14 for the Golden Lions (13-20), but they never could put away the Delta Devils.
Three times UAPB looked like it was poised to turn Tuesday night’s game into one similar to Saturday, when it beat Mississippi Valley State 94-57 on the same floor. A Travon Harper basket inside gave it a 39-29 lead late in the first half, but two late Delta Devils baskets cut it to 39-33 at halftime.
Two Steen free throws made it 44-33 early in the second half, and later a dunk by Steen made it 51-41 with 14:21 left. But Mississippi Valley State (4-28) got within 53-50 on a Jordan Evans three-pointer, then took a 63-61 lead on an Emmanuel Ejeh basket inside with 7:35 left.
“We didn’t match their intensity,” Ivory said. “We kind of played like every shot we took was going to go in, instead of being very aggressive.”
The Golden Lions found their edge just in time, holding the Delta Devils to three field goals over the final seven minutes. McKnight found Hardy on a breakaway layup, then added two free throws and jumper from the freethrow line to go up 67-64. Tied 67-67 with 2:37 left, Hardy’s three-point play made it 7067. UAPB never trailed again.
“We needed to take the lead and settle the crowd down,” Delta Devils Coach Andre Payne said.
Mississippi Valley State accomplished one of those tasks, but not the other, as UAPB used its home-court advantage to get within two victories of its first NCAA Tournament since 2010.
UAPB will play Southern on Friday, which it split its season series with. If UAPB reaches the title game, either Texas Southern or Prairie View A&M, both of which tied with UAPB with a 12-6 SWAC record, will await.
“We still feel like we haven’t played as good as we can play,” said McKnight, who had seven assists to go with his 16 points. “But we know we’re a pretty tough team when everybody is clicking. We know how good we can be.”