HOUSTON &045; With a chance to lock up a first-round Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament game at home on the line, Alcorn did not get it done.

And the Braves (13-16, 10-7 SWAC) had their head coach fuming mad after a 79-69 loss to Texas Southern (14-12, 10-7).

&uot;You’d think we’d come out with some determination to solve this playoff situation and have a game at home, but we we looked dead all the way,&uot; ASU head coach Davey Whitney said. &uot;We played terrible. No one played with the type of fire we needed.&uot;

The top four teams in the SWAC are scheduled to host an opening round game with the Braves clutching on for dear life that final spot.

A win would have cemented Alcorn at home. Instead the Braves have to win on the road in their season finale with conference-leading Prairie View Saturday.

&uot;We were close with about five minutes left when we got the score down 64-61, but we let a long pass lead to an easy basket &045; a terrible error,&uot; Whitney said. &uot;It was just a mental block. And we missed some key free throws. If we could have hit those, we might have had a chance and the game could’ve gone another way.&uot;

Again Alcorn got great bench help from Myles Howard, who led all players with 19 points and seven rebounds.

Alcorn trailed by one at the break before the Tigers pushed their lead out and away from the Braves.

Alcorn 71, Texas Southern 64

Lady Braves head coach Shirley Walker said it was not a thing of beauty, but she’ll take the Southwestern Athletic Conference win.

Tnonealyer Powers’ 14 points led Alcorn (17-10, 11-6 SWAC), who had a double-digit lead in the second half before the Lady Tigers whittled their deficit.

&uot;I don’t have any answers as to why we played so sluggish tonight,&uot; Walker said. &uot;I told the girls before the game that they had to stay with their system and couldn’t let other team mold their style. But we came out on top and won the game.&uot;

Walker credited point guard Zandra Hall with keep a cool head when the game got tight late. Hall finished with 10 points and seven assists.

Hall dished out seven assists to go along with her 10 points in the win.

Patrice Hunter had 14 points to lead the Lady Tigers (5-21, 3-14 SWAC)