Lynch, Davis lead Southern past Alabama St. in SWAC tourney

Mar 13, 2015, 06:17 pm

HOUSTON -- Tre Lynch scored eight of his 14 points in the final 3:30, and Keith Davis made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to give third-seeded Southern a 68-66 win over No. 2 seed Alabama State in the Southwestern Conference tournament semifinals on Friday.

Adrian Rodgers added 15 and Trelun Banks 12 for Southern (18-16), which will face either top-seeded Texas Southern or No. 4 seed Prairie View A&M in championship game on Saturday.

Lynch hit a 3-pointer, a jumper and converted a three-point play -which tied the game at 66 with 1:11 remaining -- as the Jaguars closed the game on a 17-5 run, rallying from a 10-point deficit with six minutes left.

Bobby Brown missed a potential winning 3-pointer as time expired for the Hornets.

Jamel Waters had 24 points, seven rebounds and four steals for Alabama State (19-10), which made just 19 of 63 (30.2 percent) field-goal attempts.

Southern is ineligible for NCAA postseason play.