BATON ROUGE, La. - A 19-4 run which spanned between two halves was the difference despite a late charge as the Tigers fell 84-73 to Southern in their SWAC opener Saturday.
The contest was tight in the beginning as TSU trailed 23-21 after Alex Anderson's jumper at the 7:37 mark. The Jaguars went ahead after a three-pointer on the ensuing possession but Anderson hit another bucket for a 26-23 deficit. Southern would score the next six points to up its margin to 31-23 with 5:14 left but the Tigers fought back and closed the gap to 33-29 after Oumar Koureissi's layup and a pair of Troy Hupstead free throws. However, the Tigers couldn't close out the half with the same momentum as they missed their next three shots while also committing three costly turnovers which led to a 9-0 run by SU to close out the half ahead 42-29.
A 10-4 second half run by Southern moved them ahead 52-33 after a three-pointer at the 17:22 mark. The Jaguars led by as much as 21 nearly five minutes later but the Tigers would make a major charge over the next eight minutes as Zaire Hayes, Anderson and Bryce Roberts led the charge by combining for 18 points to spark a 21-9 surge to cut the deficit to 73-64 with four minutes left.
Ahead by nine, Southern would record a dunk on the ensuing possession and a turnover on the next possession led to a pair of free throws and a 13-point TSU deficit. The closest TSU would get was 10 points over the next 3:24 as the Jaguars were perfect from the field and shot 5-of-7 from the free throw line to hold them off.
Anderson led TSU with 18 points followed by Hupstead's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Hayes scored 12 while Roberts scored 10 with five assists.
TSU is back in action on Monday at 6:30 p.m. against Grambling State live on SWACTV.
