On Saturday, Feb. 13, the Prairie View A&M men’s basketball team couldn’t find any love as they took on the Jackson State Tigers and loss the match-up 51-44 at the William “Billy” J. Nicks Building.
The Panthers (12-10, 7-4 SWAC) started off slow to the conference leading Tigers (13-11, 12-1 SWAC) allowing them to grab an early lead in the beginning stages of the first half.
With constant ball rotation and great team defense, the Tigers kept up great play against Prairie View A&M with hot shooting on the offensive end.
The Panthers finally cooled off Grambling State by going on a 20-2 run in the late stages of the first half.
Trailing by twelve, Prairie View A&M senior and veteran guard Christopher Jones was one of the two catalysts who ignited the run with key fast break decisions and stellar defense.
Freshman guard Chris Sights also contributed to the Panthers’ 26-22 halftime lead. Both players finished with eight points going into the second half.
The start of the second half was much of the same story for the Panthers. The Tigers once again started off early scoring the first four points of the game, tying the game.
Over the next four minutes in the game, both Prairie View A&M and Jackson State were not able to shake each other by going back and forth with lead changes and ties.
The game seemed to take a turn in the right direction for Prairie View A&M when they finally broke loose and went on an 8-1 run, increasing their efforts 38-31 with growing momentum.
With the loud crowd behind the Panthers, it seemed like everything was going to finish according to plan. That was until the Tigers pulled off an unexpected 12-0 run of their own to lead 44-38 in the closing of the game.
Prairie View A&M would go on a seven minute scoring drought that was finally broken by senior big man Darnel Hugee at the free throw line.
Giving many opportunities throughout for the Panthers to grab hold of the game, in get back and control with the Tiger’s poor free throw shooting and inconsistent offense, the Panthers weren’t able to capitalize.
Prairie View A&M finished the last four minutes of the game with only two field goals.
Hugee was the only Panther to put up double-digits, finishing the game with 13 points on the night. Jones added nine points and Tim Meadows finished with eight points and eight rebounds.