LORMAN, MS – In their final game of the season, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team fell to Alcorn State with a final score of 100-77 on Saturday night at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
True freshman Kylen Milton had a career and record-breaking night with 42 points, going 13-of-25 from the field, 8-of-14 from behind the arc, and 8-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Dequan Morris finished with 18 points, shooting 80 percent at the line and grabbing four rebounds.
The Golden Lions would get off to a slow start against Alcorn State. Following a Braves missed layup, Shawn Williams would grab the rebound to push the other way, advancing the ball ahead to Brandon Brown to throw an alley-oop to Morris for a two-handed jam to get on the board.
ASU jumped out to a 10-2 before Milton knocked down a three-point from the right-wing to start his career night.
Alcorn State then raised the point spread to 19 points halfway through the second half. At that point, Milton knew what time it was and that this would be the moment for him to take over.
Milton went one-on-one with a hesitation combo to end the Alcorn State run, leaving his defender clueless before pulling up in his face behind the arch to knock down his second three of the game.
Milton began to feel himself after the second perimeter jumper fell, and his swagger would not stop there. Running a replay of the previous play, Milton raised for a three in front of his defender to be fouled and laid on the ground in excitement to see the ball drop through the net to get a continuation.
Now with the hot hand, the Golden Lions wanted to keep the ball in Milton’s hand to continue to do what the main objective was – to put points on the board. Catching the ball and ripping through, K’Shun Stokes penetrated towards the basket to get to the block before kicking the ball out to a wide-open Milton in the corner to knock down another three-pointer.
In the following play from an Alcorn State made jumper, Milton would push the ball up the floor to waste no time to pull up at the top of the key, resulting in nothing-but-net and repeated the same thing the next play for a heat-check, only to see the ball fall through the net again, leaving ASU fans in disbelief that he scored 20 points in the first half alone.
Now that Alcorn State and their fans could see that Milton could shoot the ball well from the outside, he would show another side that they haven’t seen yet or wouldn’t think was coming.
Catching the ball in front of a hostile student section, the only thing Milton would hear is UAPB head coach Solomon Bozeman telling him to get downhill. He would do just that in traffic but took off to catch a body at the rim.
The Golden Lions then forced two ASU turnovers on the other end. With the ball in Stokes’ possession, he kicked it out to Milton on the wing for a money ball, but the play wasn’t over for Milton. Immediately after, he stole the ball himself to dribble out behind the perimeter to drop another trey ball to backpedal looking at an angry Alcorn State student section.
Milton drew contact on a three-pointer, sitting at 39 points, anxious to break the Arkansas-Pine Bluff record of most points scored in a single game of 41 points set by UAPB alum Martaveous McKnight in 2018 to take a trip to the free-throw line. Sinking all three to unlock a new career milestone, the freshman received tons of positive feedback from his teammates and coaching staff, proud to witness a significant moment in his career.
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