In the third semifinal game of the SWAC Men’s Basketball tournament, two fiery coaches put their teams and their own instruct at the Toyota Center past noon.

One of those fiery coaches motivated his Jackson State University (JSU) team enough to win as they cruise past Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) with a 69-51 victory. Wayne Brent, head coach of the JSU Tigers, has now received his first SWAC tournament win in his third season with the school.

“We got to put this game behind us and focus on the next game,” Brent said.

Defensively, the Tigers made plays to not only stop the Prairie View A&M Panthers from scoring points, but locked in their spaces resulting in missed shots. Defense was mostly their first plan that gave the Tigers a 35-25 halftime lead.

On the other hand, Byron Smith, coach of the Panthers, had things to look at next season since his team’s exit of the tournament.

“I have to do a better job. My coaching staff has to do a better job,” Smith says.

Throughout the second half, Smith’s Panthers kept up with the tempo of the Tigers and maintained within ten points until shots by PVAMU were mostly short-ranged and poor reach toward the basket. Late bad shooting got to their psyche as they lose in their bout with JSU. Smith is not only going to get better, but also his team as he saw potential in his two scorers: Admassu Williams and Jaryn Johnson. Each led the team with 10 points.

Chace Franklin, junior guard and native of Desoto, Texas, from JSU would win the points battle with 15. Raeford Worsham was the other double-digit scorer with 11 points and added 10 total rebounds. They, along with the rest of the Tigers, executed more in their possession than PVAMU with fierce defending.

Jackson State will meet Mississippi Valley State in the semifinals 2:30 pm on Friday.