Rivers, Howard lead Jackson St. to 65-61 win over Southern
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Lemmie Howard scored seven of his 12 points in the final four minutes and Maurice Rivers made 4 of 4 free throws in the closing seconds to help Jackson State beat Southern 65-61 on Monday night.
Rivers finished with 14 points and three blocks, and Julian Daughtry added 13 points for Jackson State (7-10, 4-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Rivers made just 3 of 11 from the field, but hit 7 of 8 free throws.
Emanual Shepherd hit a jumper to give Southern (5-12, 1-3) a 13-point lead about 3 1/2 minutes into the second half. The Tigers answered with a 14-3 run over the next seven minutes to trim their deficit to 46-44 before Jesse Love and Jordan Berry each hit a 3 to make it 54-all with four minutes left. Howard made a 3-pointer to break the tie and give JSU its first lead and then, after Sidney Umude's putback for the Jaguars, converted a 3-point play to extend it to 60-56.
Jared Sam made a jumper to pull Southern within one point with 16 seconds left, but Rivers's free throws sealed it.
Sam hit all of his season-high 14 free-throw attempts and finished with 22 points and a career-high tying 13 rebounds for the Jaguars.
Jackson State shot just 37.7 percent from the field, but hit 10 of 22 3-pointers and committed just six turnovers.
Jackson State is 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Game Information
2023-24 Southwestern Athletic Conference Standings
Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
---|---|---|---|
Grambling | 14-4 | - | 21-15 |
Alcorn State | 13-5 | 1 | 14-18 |
Southern | 12-6 | 2 | 18-14 |
Texas Southern | 12-6 | 2 | 16-17 |
Bethune-Cookman | 11-7 | 3 | 17-17 |
Jackson State | 11-7 | 3 | 15-17 |
Alabama A&M | 9-9 | 5 | 12-23 |
Arkansas-Pine Bluff | 8-10 | 6 | 13-18 |
Alabama State | 8-10 | 6 | 13-19 |
Prairie View A&M | 5-13 | 9 | 10-21 |
Florida A&M | 4-14 | 10 | 6-23 |
Mississippi Valley State | 1-17 | 13 | 1-30 |