Monday, January 8, 2018

Southern's swarming defense sends Jackson State to first conference loss in 10-point win

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- To topple the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s best, Southern needed to be as sharp as ever.

It's been a usual theme for the Jaguars this season. Three quarters of quality basketball and then a fourth frequently associated with drama. Monday against Jackson State, the SWAC's winningest club, Southern was forced to follow three quarters of stellar defense to shut the door and seal a win in yet another intense fourth.

For the second in-conference game in a row, Southern closed — and the Jaguars clipped the top-ranked Tigers 86-76 at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Jackson State (8-5, 3-1 SWAC) preferred leisure with its offense. With size and the SWAC’s No. 1 rebounding unit as a hoist, the Tigers wished to drop the ball inside and have their bigs operate against Southern’s undersized interior defense as starting forward Sarai Blissett was absent with a knee injury.

Makes or misses do not much matter for the Tigers. Jackson State, which has collected 16 or more offensive rebounds in 13 consecutive games, has a rebounding past sure to provide plenty of shot attempts. If that didn’t work, Jackson State’s bigs could kick it out for a good-looking 3-pointer.

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