Texas Southern beats Southern U. 82-69 in season closer

Mar 4, 2017, 11:05 pm

HOUSTON -- Jalan McCloud scored 23 points and Demontrae Jefferson added 22 and Texas Southern closed its regular season on a six-game streak, beating Southern University 82-69 on Saturday night.

Kevin Scott had 12 points with six boards and Zach Lofton chipped in 10 points for the Tigers (20-11, 16-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) who will be the No. 1 seed in the SWAC Tournament, which starts on March 7.

The Tigers trailed by two at intermission but came back on a Scott dunk early in the second half to go on top 44-41 with 17:28 to play. They held onto the lead from there and McCloud sank a 3-pointer to make it 69-61 with 4:32 left. Another McCloud 3 and two free throws by Jefferson helped push it to 78-67 with 2:00 remaining and the Tigers cruised from there.

Chris Thomas led the Jaguars (14-17, 10-8) with 13 points and seven rebounds.