Texas Southern defeats Alabama A&M Bulldogs, 77-69, in SWAC quarterfinal

Posted: March 9, 2016 -- 11:45 pm CDT.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center, SWAC Tournament) -- The top-seeded Texas Southern Tigers earned a hard-fought 77-69 victory -- in front of an announced crowd of 675 -- over the 8th-seed Alabama A&M Wednesday night in a quarterfinal match-up of the 2016 Southwestern Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship.

The Tigers trailed 13-4 at the 14:20 mark of the first half; but, TSU senior guard, Chris Thomas, scored six points during an 8-0 run to pull the Tigers within one point (13-12) at the 11:39 mark of the first half.

But, Alabama A&M (11-18) pushed the lead to five points (19-14) before Jose Rodriguez (8 points) and Orlando Coleman (6 points) combined for a 14-4 burst for a 28-23 Texas Southern lead with 5:46 remaining in the opening half.

The Bulldogs answered with six consecutive points for a 29-28 lead.

The rest of the half featured one tie and 3 lead changes. Rodriguez scored a three-point basket to beat the halftime buzzer and give Texas Southern a 35-33 lead at halftime.

Rodriguez scored a team-high 13 points in the first half.

Except for  21 seconds in the second half, Texas Southern led the Bulldogs. The Tigers led by as much as six points (61-55) with 8:34 remaining in the ball game; but, Alabama A&M refused to go away and pulled within two points (61-59) with six plus minutes on the game clock.

Malcolm Riley scored 20 points in the second half for TSU -- including a huge three-point basket with 1:53 remaining to give the Tigers a 75-68 lead and some much needed cushion.

Texas Southern improves to 18-13 and advances to face the winner of the Southern - Alabama State basketball game in a semi-final match-up Friday, March 11, at 8:30 p.m.

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