Career Night From Granger Fuels Big Road Win Over Southern

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Kolby Granger scored a career-high 29 points as TSU also had a 37-30 advantage in rebounding as the Texas Southern men’s basketball team picked up a critical road split and its first win in Baton Rouge since 2019 during a 79-68 victory over Southern University.

With the win, TSU jumped into a three-way tie for the eighth and final spot in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament field alongside Prairie View A&M and Bethune-Cookman with identical 9-17 overall records and 5-8 in the SWAC. With only five games remaining for everyone in the SWAC, every play will matter so the postseason berth is wrapped up just as every ingredient in a recipe will help create the perfect meal.

That meal tonight was a victory over Southern University (13-13, 9-4 SWAC) giving the Jaguars their first home loss of the season after they had won the previous eight by an average of 21.5 ppg.

TSU got out to a hot start at the beginning of the game with a 13-2 run over the first 3:57 of the contest before seeing Southern slowly creep back into the thick of things and eventually tying the game when DeSean Woods drained a three with 7:40 before the half to tie the game at 20-20.

Woods’ made basketball awoke the hungry Tigers from their slumber as TSU collected the next eight points for a 28-20 lead with 5:58 left in the half. After Southern cut its deficit to 31-27 in the waning moments before the half, PJ Henry and Kehlin Farooq drilled back-to-back treys in 28 seconds to give the Tigers a 37-27 lead.

An 18-1 run covering 5:50 in the first portion of the second half all but finished the cooking and plating process as Kolby Granger collected 11 of his game-high 29 points during the run that saw TSU go 6-for-11 from the field, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.

Henry’s driving layup with 2:26 left in the game capped off a 13-4 run that sealed the deal as TSU would go on to make just enough free throws to keep the game out of each.

Granger and Henry would combine to go 9-for-17 from long range as Granger finished with 29 points to Henry’s 19.

John Walker III would also reach double figures with 10 points.

Joirdon Karl Nicholas turned in one of the most complete games of the season just missing a double-double with nine points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Bryson Etienne led the Jaguars with an 11-point effort.

UP NEXT

The H&PE Arena will see its final slate of games next weekend when Texas Southern wraps up the home potion of its schedule with a Saturday evening affair with Mississippi Valley State at 5 p.m. CT before taking on Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. CT on Monday.