LORMAN &045; There’s a learning process involved in winning those close games, and Alcorn’s Braves hope Saturday night was two weeks worth of classes crammed into one night.

The Braves had Mississippi Valley on the ropes late in the second half and were on the verge of knocking off the Delta Devils for the second straight time, but Valley hit some shots down the stretch &045; including a huge 3-pointer from the corner by Hosea Butler &045; to force overtime.

Five minutes later the Delta Devils claimed a 65-59 win at the Whitney Complex.

The Braves had two crucial turnovers in the overtime and a critical missed shot from Almaad Jackson when they trailed by two with 1:20 left in the OT. The turnovers came in the final 30 seconds, and the Devils capitalized.

&uot;We didn’t stay disciplined,&uot; Alcorn assistant coach Jason Cable said. &uot;The second half we were running the offense all the way through, but in the overtime we got a little anxious. We got a little faster than we needed to go. We should have just ran the offense all the way through.

&uot;It’s growing pains. We’ve only been in two close games all year long. We’ve won one and lost one. We’re still learning.&uot;

The Delta Devils took advantage of the turnovers in the overtime after they trailed by four less than 30 seconds in. Delvin Thompson hit a 3-pointer from way out with 2:58 left that gave the Braves a 58-56 lead, but Valley forward Jeffrey Price hit consecutive buckets in the paint to give his club a 60-58 lead with 1:41 left.

Jackson missed a jumper from the side, but Alcorn got the ball back on a steal before Thompson went to the line and hit one of two free throws with 1:00 left.

Then the Braves lost it twice, each time having to foul Valley to stop the clock. They trailed 61-59 with under 15 seconds left and lost it.

&uot;We pretty much did the things we wanted to do,&uot; Valley head coach Lafayette Stribling said. &uot;We wanted it to go into overtime. When it went into overtime, it gave us some time. We pretty much got our defense strong, and it worked out OK.&uot;

Alcorn (2-3, 3-12) led by as many as 10 with a little more than five minutes left in regulation before the Devils began to chop away at the lead. They took the lead with 1:44 left when Ronald Alexander hit one of two free throws for a 48-47 lead and came up empty on a shot attempt stretch it to three.

Alcorn then turned it over, but Thompson came up with the ball on the other end, drew a foul and hit two free throws with 43 seconds left for a 49-48 Alcorn lead. Alleo Frazier hit two free throws with 17 seconds left for a 51-48 lead, but the Devils went down and had a huge 3-pointer in the corner from Butler to tie it up with four seconds left.

DeAndre Jones’ shot at the buzzer didn’t fall.

&uot;They’ll hit tough shots,&uot; Cable said. &uot;That’s no surprise. (Our defense) kept us in the game, and we turned up the defensive pressure. They didn’t handle it well. That’s how we were able to get back in the basketball game. You always have to execute down the stretch, and we didn’t execute down the stretch.&uot;

The Devils (3-1, 5-8) ran into big trouble in the first half and early in the second half after opening the game on a 12-0 run in the five six minutes. From there the Braves were solid defensively, holding Valley scoreless for over eight minutes.

The Braves put up a 17-0 run to take a 23-16 lead when Jones canned a jumper at the 3:05 mark.

&uot;We stayed on 16 so long I thought it was my age,&uot; Stribling said. &uot;We couldn’t get anything going offensively.&uot;

Alcorn pulled away in the last five minutes of the first half to take an eight-point lead at the break. The Braves held the Devils to just one field goal the final six minutes, and Fred Cole hit a bucket with 4:24 left before Thompson caught a baseball pass from Jones and put it in for a 21-16 lead.

Cole put in a 3-pointer with 1:58 left for the 26-18 lead that stood until halftime.