In the second half, they (the Falcons) played more of a man-to-man defense. So that helped us out because it gave us more looks to the basket.

We almost had Fort Valley, but couldn't come up with a date. Henderson State wanted us to be in a tournament but we had a tournament here at the same time. We talked with Delta State but they don't want to play in January and February, and we have enough region games in November and December without going into Mississippi.

It's nice to get national recognition and for the panel of voters to consider us a Top 20- level team. But ultimately, we're not real concerned with national rankings but putting ourselves in the region tournament.

What kept us going was our defense came up with some big plays. We had good field position and all those factors worked together for us.

We wanted to have our defense generate some offense for us. We scored 23 points [in the first half Wednesday night] against St. Louis. ... We wanted our defense to create some opportunities for us and it did. And I think that got us off to a terrific start.

The main thing is, nobody is losing. They're not making any mistakes down the stretch. If any were to lose and we stayed on a positive course, that may change.