The William “Billy” J. Nicks Building was at full capacity Saturday night as the Prairie View A&M Panthers were able to sweep the season series over their archrival Texas Southern University 63-58. Michael Griffin had a game-high 19 of points off the bench, making the decision of Coach Rimm, to take Griffin from a starting role to the sixth man, look like a genius.
At the 7:02 mark the Panthers turned the heat up a notch. At 23-22 Prairie View went on a 15-6 run to close out the first half. Forward Darnell Hugee would take over the last few minutes of the half with six quick points. Up by nine the Prairie View faithful were buzzing throughout the Nicks building.
It was a grinding out game between the two opponents for much of the first half, but the Panthers would open the 2nd half with four straight points from Tim Meadows making the score 41-28 at the 18:18 mark.
Prairie View A&M seemed to be geared for an easy victory, but basketball is a game of runs and Texas Southern made theirs. The Tigers clawed their way back into the game bringing the score to 59-54 going on a 9-1 run at the 8:34 mark. As the Tigers looked poised for a comeback, Prairie View’s defense would not allow them to come within five points for the rest of the game.
For the night the Panthers’ Darnell Hugee scored 13 points and Duwan Kornegay dropped in 10 for the Panther’s victory. Saturday’s win marks the first time since before the 1980 season that Prairie View has claimed a four-game winning streak over Texas Southern with conference game sweeps in consecutive years.