Grambling State Athletics
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Isaiah Miranda scored 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and Grambling State opened its season with an 89-87 victory over NIU on Monday at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center. The game was part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon.
Dwayne Pierce added 19 points and eight assists for the Tigers (1-0), who shot 64% from the field and outscored the Huskies 48-28 in the paint.
Miranda made four of his five 3-point attempts, finished with eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Isaiah Howardscored 13 points off the bench, Mekhi Fitts added 12 on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, and Antoine Shannon had 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
NIU (0-1) got 15 points from Trevor Polite, 13 from Nino Carter-Smith and 12 from David Douglas Jr. Max Weisbrod scored 11 and dished out eight assists. The Huskies hit 14 of 31 from 3-point range.
Grambling State led 43-36 at halftime after shooting 57% in the first half. Miranda had 20 of his points before the break, including a 3-pointer in the final minute.
The Tigers stretched the margin to 12 points twice in the second half, at 62-50 on Brandon Hardy’s layup and at 65-53 on a Howard layup. NIU answered, and Douglas’ 3-pointer cut it to 67-65 with 7:06 left.
The Huskies pulled within 78-77 on a Weisbrod 3-pointer with 3:13 remaining. Grambling State responded with two Fitts free throws, a Pierce jumper and a Pierce dunk to go up 85-79 with 1:41 to play.
Douglas hit another 3-pointer to make it 85-82, and Fitts’ layup pushed the lead to 87-82 with 40 seconds left. Bennett Basich scored a fast-break layup and made the free throw that followed to trim it to 87-85 with 33 seconds left. Pierce hit one of two free throws with nine seconds to go, and Carter-Smith made two at the line with six seconds left to make it 88-87.
Chancellor Perkins sank one of two free throws with four seconds remaining to restore the two-point margin. Weisbrod’s 3-point try at the buzzer missed, and Shannon grabbed the rebound to seal the win.
Grambling State made 20 of 29 free throws and got 37 bench points to NIU’s 30. The Tigers also won the rebounding battle 28-27, though NIU forced seven steals to Grambling’s four.