The Texas Southern Tigers shot out of halftime and scored 40 second-half points to take down the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers and advance to the round of 64.
The Tigers outscored the Mountaineers by 18 in the second half. They also held the Mountaineers to just 6-19 from the field in the final frame.
After their play-in game win, the Tigers move on to face the No. 1 seed, Michigan on Saturday.
Walker’s Monster Game
Junior forward John Walker III led the Tigers in both points and rebounds, with 19 and 9 respectively. The 13 points he scored in the second half would have still been the highest point total on the team.
“I made sure not to force anything, while letting the game come to me, while also playing for my teammates more than anything,” Walker said. “When you play for your teammates and just get lost in it, like my coach used to say, good things happen to you.”
Walker’s 8 field goals were double that of any other player in the game. He scored the first 6 points of the second half, helping get his team back into the game.
Mountaineer’s Climb to First-Half Lead
The Mountaineers started the game hot, grabbing a 30-20 lead at the end of the half.
Overall, the Mountaineers controlled the pace. They made the Tigers play slow, not something they are used to doing. With just under 5 minutes remaining in the first frame, they took control.
Nana Opoku swatted a Michael Weathers driving layup, one of Opoku’s 3 blocks in the game. He then lunged beyond the baseline in an attempt to save the ball. He miraculously kept the ball in bounds, finding Josh Reaves. Reaves dumped it off to Mezie Offrurum for a tomahawk slam.
The dunk began an 11-5 run from the Mountaineers to end the half.
The Tale of Two Halves
The Tigers came out of halftime with a vengeance. They quickly grabbed the lead with an 11-0 run. Jordan Gilliam added 5 in a row after Walker’s 6 point flurry.
Justin Hopkins joined Gilliam and Walker as the only players to play the entire second half for the Tigers. The trio combined to score 32 of the team’s 40 second-half points.
The final frame saw the Tigers shoot more than 50% from both the field and three.
The Tigers dominated on both sides of the ball. Though an 8-0 run answered the Tigers’ 11 straight points; their offense looked sporadic. At multiple points in the second half, the Mountaineers went without a bucket for nearly 4 straight minutes.
The Tigers held the Mountaineers to just 32% from the field and made only 2 threes in the second half.
“I thought our guys did a tremendous job of battling back there in the second half,” Tigers Head Coach Johnny Jones said. “Our guys did excellent coming back out, extending the defense, trapping, trying to force them out of their offense, making them take quicker shots, and getting them out of rhythm. We were fortunate to finish strong down the line.”
Up Next
The Tigers have now won 10 straight games and are hot at just the right time. On Saturday, they will face off against the East’s one seed: The Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan, however, will be without their second-leading scorer, Isaiah Livers. Not only that, but the Tigers have seen their fair share of Power 5 teams. This season they’ve matched up with teams like BYU, USC, and Oklahoma State, all single-digit seeds in this year’s tournament.
The matchup seems set to be the perfect chance for a 16-over-1 upset. It would be only the second time in the tournament’s history that such an upset would happen.
