The battle for first place is on the line as the Alcorn State Braves host Alabama A&M in the Davey Whitney Complex today at 7:30 p.m.

Alcorn, Alabama A&M and Southern are all 5-1 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Alabama A&M is 7-6 overall after falling to Southern 74-72 in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday.

The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Terrance Vanlier (6-5, 190), who is averaging 16.8 points per game.

&uot;That’s going to be a big ball game for us,&uot; said Alcorn State head basketball coach Davey Whitney. &uot;They have a quality ball club.&uot;

Alcorn’s only conference loss came at Mississippi Valley last week. Alcorn rebounded with a 60-47 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and upended Alabama State at home Saturday as Marcus Fleming of Fayette and Wallace Harris scored 13 points each.

&uot;Mississippi Valley was real physical and it took us a whole half to get adjusted to it,&uot; Whitney said. &uot;They came at us like Stanford did in the NCAA Tournament last year. We dug ourselves in a deep hole. We try to teach our kids if the officials are letting you play physical, you have to play it that way, and if they are letting you play no touch, you have to play it that way. We haven’t adjusted to that yet.&uot;

The Braves extended its home winning streak to 20 games Saturday.

Alcorn (9-7) held Alabama State to 35 percent shooting and took a 32-23 lead at the half. The Hornets (5-8, 3-3) got 21 points from Michael Green, but could get enough scoring to come from behind in the second half.

Alcorn shot 52 percent in the second half. Terrance Cameron scored 11 points and Brian Adams had 10 for the Braves.

&uot;We have to use everybody and we tell them all of the time whether you play two minutes, seven minutes or 12 minutes, you have to make the contribution,&uot; Whitney said. &uot;You have to make that commitment to go out and sub for them and we had a long session on making that commitment.&uot;

Alcorn, 5-0 at home this year, is led in scoring by Fleming, who is averaging 13.7 points per game.