JOURNAL STAFF
Red River Athletic Conference men’s basketball champion LSUS learned Thursday it will be the No. 2 seed in the Alexandria bracket of the NAIA National Tournament that will played at the Rapides Coliseum.
LSUS (23-7) will open the tournament against Missouri Baptist, out of the American Midwest Conference, next Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
The Pilots pounded LSUA, then held off Louisiana Christian in Rapides Coliseum to capture the RRAC Tournament title, beating the two local teams in Cenla. Now LSUS could rely on the familiarity of having played on that court in the high-stakes tournament next weekend.
KILGORE 71, BOSSIER PARISH 65: The Cavaliers gave the No. 3 junior college team in the country another scare this time in the quarterfinals of the Region XIV Tournament. The Rangers (28-2) made key free throws down the stretch after erasing a couple of six-point BPCC leads in the second half. The Cavs’ Kendrick Delahoussaye scored 19 of his team-best 23 points in the second half. He was joined in double figures by Jaeden Marshall and Derick Hamilton who both scored 12. The Cavs were one of the two teams to defeat the Rangers in the regular season. Dantwan Grimes led all scorers in the game with 27 points, 22 of those coming in the second half.
ALABAMA A&M 71, GRAMBLING 63: The visiting Tigers fell behind by 10 points late in the first half and could not recover in a Southwestern Athletic Conference game in Huntsville, Ala.. Grambling State (11-17 overall, 9-8 SWAC), which has dropped five out of its last six games, was led by Zahad Munford with 18 points. Jalen Johnson paced Alabama A&M (11-16, 10-7) with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.
ARKANSAS STATE 81, ULM 77: Norchad Omier poured in a career-high 35 points and added 13 rebounds as Arkansas State rallied in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center. Omier scored 22 in the second half, including six in an 8-0 run that gave A-State (18-10) the lead in the final two minutes. ULM, ending the season 13-18, hit 53 percent of its shots but could not duplicate a regular-season win over the Red Wolves.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
ALABAMA A&M 55, GRAMBLING 51: At Huntsville, Ala., Ariel Williams scored a game-high 20 points, including going 8-of-10 from the floor, but it wasn’t enough. Grambling State (12-16 overall, 9-8 SWAC) fell behind 19-1 to begin the game, but closed the gap to two points in the final two minutes. Alabama A&M (14-13, 12-5) got back-to-back offensive rebounds and a key free throw by Jim Harris with 13.5 seconds remaining sealed the victory.
