LORMAN — It came down to the little things for Alcorn State on Saturday.

The Braves missed two field goals that could have given them the lead against visiting Arkansas Pine-Bluff, and also botched an extra point attempt. The miscues allowed the Lions to take control, and they scored 17 second-half points to post a 24-6 win and spoil coach Jay Hopson’s home debut.

“We have got to do the little things right all the time,” Hopson said. “Now the question is can we learn from this? We missed two field goals that could have given us the lead. One was from 30 yards and we’ve got to convert those.”

An announced crowd of 8,200 turned out to cheer on the Braves in their home opener at 20,000-seat Spinks-Casem Stadium. That was far more than total of 3,000 people who attended the last two games of the 2011 season, when former coach Melvin Spears was in his final days in Lorman.

In 2010, the last time Alcorn hosted UAPB, just 2,000 fans were in the stands for a nationally-televised Thursday night game.

Hopson, a Vicksburg native who is in his first season as Alcorn’s coach, was hoping to give the crowd a good show. Instead, the Braves (1-2, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) fizzled in the second half.

Trailing 7-6 at halftime, Alcorn opened the third quarter with a 69-yard drive deep into UAPB territory. It ended with a missed 30-yard field goal by Ernesto Santillian, and the Braves had just three first downs the rest of the game.

Santillian had also missed a 45-yard field goal try with 54 seconds left in the first half, and a bad snap nixed his PAT try following a 2-yard touchdown run by Anthony Williams earlier in the second quarter.

UAPB took control of the game late in the third period. Escaping from their own 11-yard line, the Lions got three first down runs by Aaron Lagrone to reach the 46. On second-and-12, running back John Toney appeared stopped for a short loss, but instead broke free and ran 54 yards for a touchdown to put UAPB ahead 14-6 with 3:15 to go in the third.

“I just kept churning my legs,” Toney said. “I never heard a whistle.”

Hopson said that play should serve as another tough lesson for the Braves.

“We had three guys right there and he slipped away from us,” Hopson said.

UAPB forced a three-and-out by the Braves, then used the short field after the punt to set up Tyler Strickland’s 38-yard field goal to up the lead to 17-6 with eight seconds left in the quarter.

The game’s final score came on Benjamin Anderson’s 35-yard TD run with 4:48 left in the fourth for the 24-6 final. Anderson was 16-of-29 passing for 146 yards.

Alcorn State had 262 yards in total offense, with quarterback Darius Smith completing 14 of 33 passes for 117 yards. The Braves ran for 121 yards as a team, but the leading rusher was Arnold Walker with just 29 yards on 13 carries.

UAPB linebacker Bill Ross said some run blitzes were key to shutting down Alcorn’s ground game.

“We blitzed a little more in the second half,” Ross said. “I think that stop on the opening drive of the second half was big. We knew we had to get a stop right there, because they had us on our heels.”

UAPB 24, Alcorn 6

Records: UAPB (2-1, 1-1 SWAC); Alcorn St. (1-2, 1-1)

Skinny: Arkansas-Pine Bluff scores 17 second-half points to spoil Alcorn’s home debut

Next: Alcorn State at Arkansas State, Saturday at 6 p.m.