Box Score BIRMINGHAM, AL – The Wildcats of Fort Valley State University played hard in this afternoons contest as they fell 82-75 in the second round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Basketball Tournament to Morehouse College in Birmingham at the Bill Harris Arena. Today's game marked the third meeting between the teams with the Maroon Tigers winning all three. The Tigers won by 2 (72-70) in January and by 4 (70-66) in Atlanta.
Tyler Edwards and
Walter Foster led the Wildcats with 20-points each. Foster grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, hit 8-of-15 shots from the field and made 4-of-6 shots from the line. Edwards added six rebounds, made 7-of-13 baskets from the floor, one 3-pointer, went 5-for-5 at the free throw line, one assist, one block and two steals.
Jaylon McMillan and
J. R. Bryant each added 13 and 12-points while each hit 2-of-2 foul shots.
Jamaal Garror was held to seven points, four boards, three assists and a blocked shot.
Glenn Hollaway and
Trey Elliott finished with four and one points.
Both teams had trouble holding the ball as FVSU turned the ball over 18 times to MHC's 17 while the Tigers took advantage with 25-points to 18 off turnovers, FVSU had 34-points to 32-points in the paint and outscored MHC 25-8 on fast break points.
The Wildcats led by as much as five points in the early part of the first half and MHC by 15 late in the first half. FVSU fell short by 12 (28-40) in rebounding while scoring on 27-of-58 (46.6%) shots from the field, 6-of-16 (37.5%) in 3-pointers and hitting 15-of-20 (75%) shots at the foul line. MHC made 48.4% of their shots from the floor, 37.5% from behind the arc and 59.1% from the free throw line.
For Morehouse, Jordan Wallace outscored everyone with 23-points and Omar Alston posted a double-double 14 rebounds and 10-points.
In the first half, Edwards scored the first two baskets on a three-pointer and layup. Morehouse came back with two scores of their own 4-5, then took a 6-5 lead at the 17:28 mark. At the first timeout, the Tigers had a 10-7 lead. Foster's jumper and Elliott's one-of-two free throws brought the Wildcats to within three. With 8:58 to go MHC increased the score to 8 (20-12), then 15 (27-12) at the 6:11 mark. The Wildcats fought back cutting the lead to three just before intermission 27-30.
Foster had a great first half leading FVSU with nine-points and Edwards adding six rebounds. FVSU hit 37% of their shots from the floor, 28.6% from three-point land and 62.5% at the free throw line.
The Tigers upped their lead by seven-point three times after coming out of the locker room, but Bryant's 3-point shot cut the score to 34-38. The Tigers would increase their lead back to 15 (56-43) with 12:23 remaining. McMillan drained two free throws with 5:11 remaining for a 62-66 game. Edwards then made a layup, free throw, and a second layup to cut the lead to 6 (63-69) with 1:42 left. Bryant's layup closed the gap 73-78 with .23 second on the clock.
