Sports

DELTA DEVILS HOLD OFF GOLDEN LIONS

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 11:00 AM CST

Special to The Commercial

ITTA BENA, Miss. — Mississippi Valley State University used a huge three-pointer and three clutch free throws during the closing minutes to post a 68-62 win over the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions in a Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both schools here Monday night.

After the Lions (3-6, 0-1 SWAC) had trimmed the MVSU lead to 62-60 on Tamarius Brown’s free throw with 2:35 remaining, the Delta Devils relied on Stanford Speech’s 3-pointer to increase their advantage to 65-60 with less than a minute left.

Speech, who led all scorers with 17 points, and Jesse Taylor combined for three more charity tosses over the final seconds as MVSU moved to a 68-60 spread with 14 seconds showing. The Lions’ Phillip Brooks added a lay-up as timed expired.

MVSU (1-9, 1-0 SWAC), ! sparked by Jeffery Price and Speech, carried a slim 29-26 lead into intermission. Price finished with 14 points and Mike Thomas chipped in 12.

The Lions stayed within striking distance of MVSU throughout the contest behind some pin-point shooting by Martese Coleman. The senior point guard topped the Lions’ scoring charts with 16 points, while forward William Byrd added 10 points.

UAPB out-rebounded MVSU 34-29 with Byrd pulling down six boards. Brown, the Lions’ leading scorer with a 14.0 average, was limited to only eight points on the evening, as he managed on 3-of-11 buckets from the field and two free throws.

Devilettes 71, Lady Lions 60

In the women’s contest, the Devilettes got 20 points from Christen West to turn back the UAPB Lady Lions 71-60. Portia Wilson followed with 16 points and Karmethia Mazique tossed in 12 points.

The Lady Lions (1-10, 0-1 SWAC) were led by Arica Green’s 17 points. Vernae Cross added 16 and Chekesha Johson scored 12.

UAPB will return to action on Saturday night at Alabama A&M in Normal, Ala.

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