Alabama State took over the final two minutes of the game going on a 9-3 run to defeat Prairie View A&M 52-43. The Panthers dropped to fourth place in the SWAC on Senior Night in the final game at the William “Billy” J. Nicks Building this season.
Entering into Monday night’s match-up the Panthers knew they would be in for a battle, facing the Hornets of Alabama State for third place in the SWAC.
Prairie View would take a 10-6 lead in the early minutes of the game, but the Panthers would allow ASU to come back as the Hornets went up 11-10 to later take a 17-12 lead at the 8:05 mark on a Sekani Milligam three-pointer.
The Panthers of Prairie View A&M would bounce back quickly as they would take an 18-17 lead with 6:41 remaining in the first half. In the final minutes in the first half Hornet guard Tramayne Moorer was able to get into the line to hit a lay-up. Not knowing that the Hornets would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game, the Panthers would go into halftime down 25-22.
In the second half, the Panthers fought hard but to no avail. Throughout, the Panthers kept pace with the Hornets, but were not able to knock down the barrier in front of them.
In the early going Darnell Hugee threw a dunk down to bring the score to a 25-24 deficit. The Panthers had many opportunities to take advantage of the Hornets’ cold offense, but it so happened to be that their offense was ice cold, only scoring the six points in the first nine minutes of the games.
Entering the last three minutes of the game Dorian McDaniel knocked down a huge bucket to cut Alabama State’s lead to 40-38. With 1:30 remaining Michael Griffin hit a free throw line jumper to cut the lead to 43-40.
On the next trip down the floor Hornets guard A. J. Spencer hit a cutthroat three-pointer to bring the Panther deficit to 46-40, followed by a 6-0 run to end the game.
Hugee led Prairie View A&M with 14 points and five rebounds while Christopher Jones and McDaniel grabbed seven rebounds each. Jones also scored nine points and recorded three steals.
Previously, Prairie View A&M played Alabama A&M on Saturday night in the William “Billy” J. Nicks Building as the Panthers defeated the Bulldogs 63-52.
Prairie View was no match for the Bulldogs as they dictated the game with their defense. The Panthers held the Alabama A&M to 25.4 percent for the night.
Griffin and Chris Sights both led Prairie View with 11 points apiece while Hugee and Christopher Jones scored 10 each. Jones grabbed a team-high eight rebounds along with dishing out five assists.