LORMAN &045; It was out of hand early.

At least, that was the way it looked after a first half in which Alcorn State did everything it could to try to lose to Grambling State. The Braves trailed 31-17 at the break before falling 54-50 Monday night.

&uot;We were very flat (in the first half),&uot; Alcorn head coach Samuel West said. &uot;The drain from Saturday (night’s game against Jackson State) was really dragging us down. We did everything we could do to get the guys up for this.&uot;

Then, in the second half, the Braves woke up.

Alcorn came out with a rarely-seen lineup to start the second half consisting of Fred Cole, Alleo Frazier, Jerist Roberts, Almaad Jackson and Roland Parsons. Of those, only Cole started the game and only Jackson starts for the team on a regular basis.

&uot;Those were the kids that showed the most fire,&uot; West said. &uot;A few kids picked that up.&uot;

The change worked. Alcorn steadily ate away at the Grambling lead throughout the second half, finally cutting it to just two points at 50-48 with 1:23 to go and again at 52-50 with 42.9 seconds to go.

Unfortunately for Alcorn, that was the best they could manage, as the Braves (5-17, 4-7) fell to Grambling State (8-10, 5-6).

Despite some Grambling mistakes &045; the Tigers missed five of eight free throws in the final 2:55 &045; the Braves couldn’t quite get there. Jackson lost the ball out of bounds with 16.8 seconds to go, and Grambling’s Brion Rush hit one of two free throws to make the score 53-50 Grambling with 16.3 seconds remaining.

&uot;We didn’t handle the pressure well,&uot; Grambling head coach Larry Wright said. &uot;Usually we don’t have any problem with that, but give them credit, they really got to us.&uot;

Frazier, who had hit a 3-pointer a minute earlier to cut the deficit to two, missed a 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left that would have tied the game and Rush hit one of two free throws with 4.2 to go to seal the victory.

Wright said he expected Alcorn to make a run and get back into the game at some point.

&uot;When Grambling and Alcorn play, it’s always good one way or another,&uot; Wright said. &uot;We jumped out early at our place, and they came back to beat us. Tonight we jumped out early and held on to win.&uot;

Wright said his team got too lax with the big lead and started making too many mistakes that allowed the Braves to make a comeback.

&uot;You think you have it won, and the kids relax,&uot; Wright said. &uot;We said at halftime, ‘Just pretend it’s 0-0,’ but that didn’t seem to work.&uot;

Behind the play of Jackson and Delvin Thompson, the Braves did make that comeback in the second half. Those two combined for 15 points in the second half. All of Jackson’s points were from the free throw line.

The Braves fell behind early in the game, scoring just 17 points in a first half in which they shot just 23.8 percent from the field. The Tigers scored 31 points on 43.8 percent shooting.

Alcorn struggled to hit shots all night, finishing the game shooting just 24.5 percent as a team. The Braves’ starters were a combined five-for-26 and scored just 18 points.

The Tigers broke a four-game losing streak with the victory and bounced back after a tough 77-48 loss Saturday at Southern.

Alcorn, on the other hand, lost its fifth game in its last six and will have to hit the road next week to face Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Just what went wrong for the Braves?

&uot;It’s a list of things,&uot; West said. &uot;We have no leadership, we had poor post play, there’s no retention of fundamentals and immaturity. Of my top nine players, six are sophomores and freshmen.&uot;