SIAC WOMEN
Miles 59, Lane 52
MORROW, GA – West Division top seed Miles and head coach Pete Asmond won their third straight women’s SIAC Basketball Tournament title, pulling away from a 24-24 halftime tie to down division second-seed Lane 59-52 in the league’s championship game Saturday afternoon.
Freshman all-SIAC first team point guard Samarian Franklin, whose 24 points and 8 assists spurred the Lady Golden Bears (24-5) to a scintillating 75-72 overtime win vs. Clark Atlanta in Friday’s semifinals, again came up big in the finale. Though she tallied only a team-high 12 points, 10 came in a decisive third quarter where her scoring and playmaking helped her squad to a 44-39 lead. Lane pulled within 54-50 on a layup by Lauren Lain with 1:45 to play but that was as close as the Lady Dragons (22-6) got.
Franklin, a 5-3 Birmingham, Ala. native, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Makayla Rieves had 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for Miles. Shannon Niles added 10 points. Lane got 13 points from Lain and 11 each from Kamil Washum and Dyani Bernstine.
“She’s the conductor,” Asmond said of Franklin. “We rely on her to set the tempo and direct us home, and she did that today.”
In four years at the helm, Asmond has led Miles to the tournament championship game each season, winning the last three titles. Before taking over the ladies program at Miles in 2022, he served as an assistant to current Miles’ men’s head coach Fred Watson. He played for Watson at Benedict and after his playing career was also on Watson’s staff at Benedict.
By virtue of the title, Miles earned the SIAC’s automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Div. II national playoffs for the third straight season. The Lady Golden Bears are seeded fourth and will face 5th-seed Nova Southeastern in the opening round of the South Region playoffs Friday in Indiana (Pa.). Edward Waters (23-6), the SIAC East Division regular season champ who was ousted by Albany State from the SIAC Tournament in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, received an at-large bid, is seeded eighth and will face top-seed and host Indiana (Pa.) on Friday.
SIAC MEN
Morehouse 66, Tuskegee 56
MORROW, GA – East Division top seed Morehouse got a 31-9 advantage in bench points as it rode its depth to a 66-56 win over West top seed Tuskegee in the men’s championship game of the SIAC Basketball Tournament here Saturday evening.
Six-seven sophomore super-sub Josiah Lawson led the Maroon Tigers (22-9) with 17 points. He was tops among four double-figure scorers including 10 from reserve guard Sincere Key and 11 and 10 from starters Sincere Moore and JerMontae Hill respectively.
“When you’ve got Josiah Lawson coming off the bench that will help you win a lot of bench points,” said victorious Morehouse head coach Larry Dixon.
Lawson, who had 18 off the bench in a semifinal win over Miles and 17 in a reserve role in a quarterfinal win over Edward Waters, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Teammates Brandon Peters and Hill joined Lawson on the all-tournament team.
The win for Morehouse and Dixon comes in his first year since taking over the program in May 2025. Down 8-0 in the game’s first three minutes, Dixon turned to his reserves who forged a 12-12 tie and then were key in a 14-2 run that put Morehouse up 26-14 leading to a 33-24 halftime lead.
“I think the biggest thing is we’ve been preaching ‘team’ all year,” said Dixon. “We didn’t get off to a great start with our first five but our second five came in and gave us a big, big lift. But that’s our whole team philosophy and our mantra – a whole team effort. And that was on display tonight.”
Tuskegee (22-8) battled gamely but struggled from the field (19 of 53, 35.8) and even more from beyond the arc (5 of 21, 23.8%). Golden Tigers’ Player of the Year Kusamae Draper had 13 points to lead Tuskegee. Point guard and outside threat R. J. Walker made just 2 of 11 shots, 2 of 8 3s, to finish with 11 points. Anthony Wright also had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Morehouse entered the tournament as the tenth ranked team in the NCAA Div. II South Regional Rankings. The tournament championship earns the Maroon Tigers the SIAC’s automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA national tourney. They will face top seed and host Nova Southeastern Saturday at 5 p.m. in the first round of the Div. II South Regional.
OVC MEN
Tennessee State 93, Morehead State 67
EVANSVILLE, IND – Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion Tennessee State ran out a dominating 55-34 en route to a dominating win over Morehead State in the championship game of the league’s tournament.
TSU (23-9) had five double-digit scorers getting 18 from Antoine Lorick III, 17 from Travis Harper II, 16 points and 11 rebounds from Dante Harris, 16 off the bench from Carlous Williams and 14 points and 6 assists from Aaron Nkrumah. In jumping to the big lead, the Tigers shot a blistering 60% (21 of 35) from the field in the first half including draining 12 of 15 (80%) 3-pointers. They shot 16 of 26 (61.5%) from long range for the game.
The title and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth ends a 32-year drought for TSU and comes in the first year under head coach Nolan Smith. Harris was named tournament MVP while Nkrumah and Harper II joined him on the all-tournament team.
