SU men topple Mississippi Valley State

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 20, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:32 a.m.

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When it started, it was pretty. As it continued, it got a little homely.

Finally, as the final buzzer sounded Monday night, and as fans walked out of the F.G. Clark Activity Center breathing sighs of relief, Southern had pulled together a 57-54 victory against Mississippi Valley State the down-and-dirty way — with free throws, defensive stops and a tiny slice of good luck in the clutch.

The result was a two-game winning streak — Southern’s first of the season. Having survived an array of second-half collapses over the first 2 1/2 months, the Jaguars (3-15, 3-3) climbed to .500 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference as they head to Alabama this weekend for what figures to be a challenging two-game swing.

SU faces Alabama State on Saturday, followed by a visit to Alabama A&M on Jan. 24.

“Maybe it is karma,” said guard Geri Guillory, who went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the second half, but also survived a gaffe of his own in crunch time. “We’ve had a lot of these kinds of games not go our way, so it’s good to get a couple good bounces and couple of wins.”

Monday night, as a boisterous-but-nervous crowd and an ESPNU audience watched as the Jaguars go 6-for-9 from the free-throw line over the final two minutes, doing just enough to get by when their offense started to fall out of rhythm down the stretch.

Of course, free throws weren’t enough. They needed some defense, too. That and a good bounce.

Twice in the final 10 seconds, the Delta Devils had a chance to tie the score at 57 with a 3-pointer.

The Jaguars pushed the Valley shooters way outside when Julius Cheeks fired up a 30-foot 3-pointer with 5 seconds to go. It was way off the mark, and SU’s Barry Honoré hauled in the rebound with 3.5 seconds left.

Honoré went to the line for what figured to be two free- throw attempts.