Cameron Christon goes in for a layup. Christon led the tiger in scoring against Alcorn. GSU Athletics/Courtesy photo
Grambling State University’s men’s basketball team kept their momentum going after breaking a four-game losing streak.
The Tigers returned home to defend their court against Southern University on Saturday and Alcorn State on Monday.
Grambling went head to head with the Jaguars in a rematch from earlier in the season, where the Tigers won 61-56.
The first half saw Southern come in with momentum carrying over from a six game winning streak.
Starting off with a 19-6 run, the Jaguars were running the table against the Tigers. It would play out similar to that for the entire half.
Southern held a lead over the Tigers for the entire half and the game seemed sealed for Grambling.
Excellent defense held the Tigers down nine points as the intermission hit with the score 38-29.
Percentage-wise, the G-Men were shooting 47 percent while Southern shot at 45 percent on more shot attempts.
As the second half began, the Tigers came out with new life early on. Shutting down early attempts by Southern allowed Grambling to climb back into the game.
Erasing the deficit, a three-point ball by Anthony Gaston with just under 12 minutes left in the game tied the score at 43.
The Tigers led and extended their lead until a late resurgence by the Jaguars with just over three minutes left.
With the lead changing at 52-51, the game went back and forth with free throws until the Tigers gave themselves a cushioned lead that would stay with them until the buzzer sounded.
With the final score of 66-62, the Tigers won their third in a row, led by 17 points from the free throw mark.
Holding a team-high 23 points and nine rebounds from Devante Jackson to pair 18 points (10 from free throws) and six rebounds, the Tigers were able to string together a comeback.
When they hit the floor against Alcorn State on Monday, the high scoring affair went the Tigers way early on.
After the lead changed several times in the opening 10 minutes, the game evened out at 17 with under eight minutes to go in the half.
The Tigers didn’t look back after that, keeping the game close as the clock expired with a 31-28 lead. Both teams were shooting just under 40 percent from the field in the half.
When play resumed, the Tigers held the lead the remainder of the game, only allowing it to be tied in the first five minutes of the quarter.
As the game ended, the Tigers were able to pick up their fourth win in a row with a final score of 80-71.
Another free throw heavy game saw the Tigers pick up 20 points from the charity stripe.
Cameron Christon led with 20 points and 9 rebounds followed by Devante Jackson with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
After defending the home turf and moving up to third in the rankings, the team will travel to Texas for match-ups against first and second place Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern to potentially move up the rankings.