Texas Southern beats Mount St. Mary’s 60- 52

John Walker III scored a season- high 19 points and Jordan Gilliam had 12 to help Texas Southern erase a 10- point halftime deficit Thursday and beat Mount St. Mary’s 60- 52 in the first NCAA Tournament game in nearly two years.

“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” Walker shouted afterward. “I just wanted it so bad, it wasn’t even about me. It was about going out there and beating a good team and getting it done.”

It’s the second straight First Four victory for the Tigers ( 17- 8), who also won in 2018 — their most recent tournament appearance.

Texas Southern, the No. 16 seed in the East Region, won its 10th straight game and faces top- seeded Michigan ( 20- 4) on Saturday.

Walker also matched his career high with nine rebounds.

Damian Chong Qui scored 14 points and Mezie Offurum had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Mountaineers ( 12- 11), who fell to 1- 9 in tourney play.

“I felt like I let myself down and I let my team down,” an emotional Chong Qui said. “Like I said, we’ll be back. We’ll be back here and we’ll be better. We’ll take care of business.”

It was the first NCAA Tournament game since Virginia beat Texas Tech in overtime to win the national championship on April 8, 2019 — a span of 710 days. And the atmosphere inside Indiana University’s Assembly Hall was alien to the event known as March Madness. Only players, coaches and staff members were permitted on the court level and an estimated 150 people sat in the cavernous lower bowl.

It didn’t take long for Texas Southern to change the game after trailing 30- 20 at the half.

Walker and Gilliam scored t he f i rst 11 points to give the Tigers a 31- 30 lead. The Tigers started pulling away with a 12- 4 spurt that made it 46- 42 with 8: 10 to play and finally put the game away at the free- throw line.

Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones now has first tourney win with the Tigers and just the third ever by a Southwestern Athletic Conference champion.

He was glad his squad got the chance to kick off the long- awaited tournament.

“I thought it would put a spotlight on our program and our guys represented the program the right way,” he said.

While Texas Southern found a way to advance, it needs to play much better to compete with the Wolverines.

DOUG MCSCHOOLER/ AP Texas Southern guard Michael Weathers ( 20) drives the ball into the defense of Mount St. Mary’s guard Damian Chong Qui during the second half of their First Four game Thursday.