The Grambling State Tigers just aren't quite ready to call it a season. As the calendar was turning from January to February, the Grambling season appeared to be lost. Their record was 3-17, with a 1-8 mark in SWAC play. Somewhere, a switch was flipped. The Tigers won seven of their final nine contests, entered the SWAC tournament as the #6-seed, and promptly knocked off #3-seed Mississippi Valley State.
So Grambling wasn't going to let a measly 10-point halftime deficit against #2-seed Jackson State slow them down. They stormed back to score 41 second-half points, force overtime at a 66-all tie, and kept right on rolling to an 81-75 win in Friday's SWAC semi-final.
The game ended up being a shootout between Donald Qualls of Grambling State and Grant Maxey of Jackson State. However, most of the shooting came from the line. In addition to his team winning, Qualls' 35 points topped Maxey's 32, but both players actually shot under 50% from the field - they earned 30 of their combined 67 points from the charity stripe. Lance Feurtado chipped in 18 points for Grambling State, who advances to the SWAC tournament championship game, where they will face the winner of Friday night's Alabama State-Texas Southern match-up.