Pine Bluff beats Mississippi Valley, heads to SWAC quarters

PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- Martaveous McKnight and Quamauri Hardy scored 16 points apiece, Steen Trent added 11, and top-seeded Arkansas-Pine Bluff beat Mississippi Valley State 77-73 in Tuesday night's Southwestern Athletic Conference quarterfinal.

Travon Harper added 11 points for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-20), which advances to play No. 4 seed Southern in a Friday semifinal.

Hardy hit 3 of 7 3-pointers for the Golden Lions, who led 39-33 at halftime and shot 47.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from long range.

Trent, the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, had two blocks and to steals for the Golden Lions, who forced 14 MVS turnovers.

Jordan Evans scored 20 points, Dante Scott added 14 and Emmanuel Ejeh had 12 with eight rebounds for the eighth-seeded Delta Devils (4-28), who outrebounded the Golden Lions 41-28 and shot 42.4 percent.