Arkansas-Pine Bluff wins SWAC title for first NCAA bid

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Bossier City, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tavaris Washington had 14 points and five rebounds as the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions took home the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 50-38 win over Texas Southern, giving the Golden Lions their first ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Allen Smith had 11 points while Lebaron Weathers, George Davis and Savalance Townsend each chipped in with six points for the second-seeded Golden Lions (17-15), who are going to the NCAA Tournament on a tear as the team has won 11 of their last 12.

DeAndre Hall had 14 points and nine rebounds while Junior Treasure added 14 points for the fifth-seeded Tigers (17-16), who were looking to win their fifth tournament title.

Texas-Southern held the early lead, but Arkansas-Pine Bluff chipped away and took a 12-9 lead on Washington's layup with 11 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

The Tigers rallied with a 7-0 spurt, but then went almost the rest of the half without any points as the Golden Lions closed the half with a 12-2 run to take a 26-20 lead into the break.

Texas-Southern cut its deficit to five points with 11 1/2 minutes to play in the second half, as Treasure's jumper made it a 36-31 game.

However, the Tigers again went cold on the offensive end over the next six- plus minutes and the Golden Lions used that to stretch their lead.

Washington hit a three-ball after Treasure's jumper, then hit two free throws, and Weathers' tip-in made it a 43-31 game with a little over eight minutes to play.

From there Arkansas-Pine Bluff had no problems maintaining a double-digit lead on the way to the win.

Game Notes

Weathers also had eight rebounds in the game...Texas Southern shot just 27.3 percent in the game, including 1-for-9 from beyond the arc...The Golden Lions made 36.2 percent of their shots...The two teams combined to go just 24-for-38 from the free throw line.

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The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

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