BIRMINGHAM, Ala. &045; Yea, though they walked through top-seeded Valley, Alcorn feared nothing Thursday night.

No Devils; no Southwestern Athletic Conference Player and Coach of the Year; no last-minute heroics; no nothing.

The Braves capped off a wild 24 hours at the SWAC Tournament in the Fair Park Arena with the biggest upset of the week.

Despite 29 turnovers &045; one shy of a season high and a recurring problem for Alcorn against Valley this season &045; the eighth-seeded Braves remained patient enough to bleed out a 67-66 victory over No. 1 Mississippi Valley State.

&uot;We got a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the conference. I feel strange,&uot; Alcorn head coach Sam West said. &uot;If anybody deserved to represent the SWAC, it’s Valley. But we lived to dance another day. The guys played hard, didn’t play smart, but we’ll take the win.&uot;

The Braves (11-17) withstood a late Valley (22-7) rally, which included five 3-pointers in the final 68 seconds to knock of the second top seed in as many days. Valley’s women team, an eighth seed, shocked regular season champ Alabama State Wednesday 57-52.

Alcorn advances to today’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 5 Alabama A&M, who upset No. 4 Grambling 86-80 in the first quarterfinal game Thursday.

Point guard DeAndre Jones led three Alcorn players in double figures with 14 points, as Myles Howard and Brian Jackson added 12 and 11, respectively. Jones, who handed out six dimes, was the cooler head when things got tight for the Braves.

&uot;I wanted to slow it down,&uot; said Jones, a 6-4 sophomore. &uot;The past times we’ve played them, they’d make a big shot and we seemed to rush ours. It was a big game. I was saying we needed to calm it down because one of their made shots didn’t mean anything.&uot;

Edward Mack, Willie Neal and Hosea Butler each poured in 12 points, while SWAC Player of the Year Attarius Norwood was held to 11.

Undeterred on a cold shooting night, Norwood rainbowed his third trey of the contest, bringing the Devils back from eight down to within a bucket, 46-44. Off a Butler steal, Valley ran the break to perfection and tied the game with an Elvis Robinson layup with 9:30 left.

&uot;When you come into the tournament, you’re record is 0-0,&uot; said Norwood, who finished 4 of 13 from the field. &uot;The regular season doesn’t mean anything. As long as you’re winning, you live to see another day. You lose you gotta go home.&uot;

West signaled for a timeout, got his wish, designed a play in the huddle and Alcorn executed, as Jackson spotted up in the corner for his second long ball, putting the Braves back ahead 49-46.

A Jackson layup off a zip feed from Jones put Alcorn up 58-50 and Callans added a pair of freebies seconds later for the Braves’ biggest lead of the night, 60-50, with 1:17 left.

&uot;That put a nail in the coffin,&uot; said Jackson, who is appearing in his third consecutive tourney semifinal today. &uot;We came out and played hard. We knocked off a good team in Valley, but we’ve got to stay focused.&uot;

Mack hit the first of the late barrage of treys to bring the Devils within seven. His second with 47 seconds left made it a two-possession game, 62-56. It was four when Neal putback a miss with 25 ticks showing.

Valley cut the margin to three, 66-63, off Butler’s second triple of the game with nine seconds left.

Jones was immediately fouled. When he missed the front end, the Devils kept hope alive. However, he buried the second and Butler’s three at the buzzer only turned the final score closer.

&uot;We were at the top of the pinnacle, and everybody was shooting for us,&uot; Valley head coach Lafayette Stribling said. &uot;We were a different type of ball club tonight, and so were they.&uot;

The Braves committed four turnovers in their first five possessions and watched their one-point halftime lead evaporate as Valley began to stoke the fire from downtown.

Butler buried his first of the game to put the Devils up 36-33 and it felt as though Valley might run away with the pace of the game.

However, Alcorn did not wilt away. It exploded for an 11-0, initiated off a Jackson putback jumper with 16:17 remaining.

&uot;I think our guys will tell you, that that’s one of the first times all season where our turnovers didn’t result in to made field goals,&uot; West said. &uot;If they would’ve made half of their field goals, they would’ve won.&uot;

A Howard deuce gave the Braves their biggest lead of the first half, 24-19, with 7:31 remaining.

Neal collected two of his three first-half putbacks to cut the Alcorn margin to one, 26-25, before Jones hit his third triple of the half in as many attempts at the 3:58 mark.