Romain leads MVSU over Grambling in SWAC tourney 87-73

HOUSTON (AP) Marcus Romain scored a career-high 32 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and No. 7 seed Mississippi Valley State defeated 10th-seeded Grambling State 87-73 in the opener of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday.

The Delta Devils (7-26) will play No. 2 seed Alcorn State in a quarterfinal Wednesday.

Roman, a freshman, was 8 of 12 from the field, made all four of his 3-pointers and 12 of 13 free throws. Latrell Love added a career-high 21 points and Isaac Williams 20 for MVSU, which shot 56 percent, made 7 of 12 3-point attempts and 26 of 29 free throws.

Ervin Mitchell scored 19 points for the Tigers (7-24) with Deonte Hearns adding 15.

Grambling came back from a 14-point second-half deficit to get within one, 57-56, with eight minutes to go before Ta'Jay Henry scored for MVSU. Then, with 7:02 left, personal and technical fouls were whistled on the Tigers and Romain made all five free throws for an eight-point advantage. Grambling didn't get closer than seven after that.