TSU leaves no doubt by capturing crown Results
reer. Blood, sweat and tears all goes into the game.”
Saturday’s win didn’t come easy for the Tigers (22-12), who trailed 28-27 at halftime, were down by as many as eight points six minutes into the second half and trailed 46-40 with 9:33 remaining.
TSU and Southern played with small lineups in the final minutes.
“We were going to try to trade baskets with them, but they got possession and the lead and that’s what changed the game,” said Southern coach Roman Banks, whose team was outrebounded 45-32.
Friday’s 90-77 semifinal win over Prairie View A&Mgave the Tigers a spot in the NCAA Tournament. But TSU and Southern played on Saturday as if the conference’s bid remained at stake.
“It was important to win because everybody knew we were in, but you don’t want other people to start thinking that the only reason they are in is because the other team was ineligible to play,” said coach Mike Davis, who took TSU to the NCAA Tournament last year and previously coached Indiana and UAB to the Big Dance.
“That’s the way you want to go to the Tournament, by winning the (conference) tournament. You don’t want to lose and say you went in the back door.”
Gibbs, who scored 12 points, was named the SWAC tournament MVP, joining Thomas on the all- tournament team. Gibbs, the league’s MVP during the regular season, gave his tournament MVP trophy to Riley, who inexplicably was left off the all-tournament team, after having big games against Alcorn State (95-74) in the quarterfinals, Prairie View in the semifinals and in Saturday’s championship game.
“I thought Malcolm was the MVP of the tournament,” Gibbs said. “He did what it took for us to get the win.
“We wanted to go out and finish the season with a conference championship, and we did that. We knew if we lost, we were going to get a two-hour speech in the locker room, and we didn’t want that.” Richard Dean is a freelance writer.