SHREVEPORT, La.-Tavaris Washington scored 14 points and tournament MVP Allen Smith added 11 as the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff defeated Texas Southern 50-38 in the Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament Men's Championship.
The lead changed hands seven times early with one tie, but the Golden Lions took the lead for good at the 5:53 mark on a three-pointer by George Davis and never trailed again. UAPB led 26-20 at halftime.
In the second half, Univ. Arkansas-Pine Bluff extended to a double-digit lead at 41-31 on a pair of free throws by Washington with 8:45 to play and maintained its double-digit lead the remainder of the game.
"Our guys did a great job defensively tonight," said UAPB Head Coach George Ivory. "We wanted to hold Texas Southern to under 35 percent shooting and we wanted to control the boards. When you look at both of those categories you can see that we achieved both of those goals.”
Pine Bluff, Arkansas native Smith was named the 2010 SWAC Tournament MVP after playing stellar throughout the tourney connecting on big shots and playing solid defense on several of the conferences' top scorers.
“Allen was huge for our team throughout this tournament,” said Ivory. “He was able to shut down whoever we assigned him to guard and he lifted us with his three point shooting ability.”
UAPB (17-15) now qualifies for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
