Panthers retake first with rematch victory
PRAIRIE VIEW — Before Saturday’s tipoff, three banners reflecting the success of the 2018-19 Prairie View A&M basketball team were unveiled up in the rafters of the Nicks Building, prompting enthusiastic applause from the near-capacity crowd.
The banners commemorated the Panthers’ Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season title, the conference championship and their appearance in the NCAA Tournament from a season ago.
Prairie View took a big step toward a repeat of the conference regular-season championship Saturday against Texas Southern with first place on the line. Behind the scoring of Gerard Andrus and the overall play of Devonte Patterson,
Prairie View prevailed over Texas Southern 69-59.
“It was an important win, and it was a team win and team effort,” said Patterson, who collected 27 points, 14 rebounds and seven of the Panthers’ 11 steals. “We came out with a game plan, and that was to attack.”
The Panthers, who outscored the Tigers 35-20 in the second half, started both halves on 9-0 runs.
With the victory, the Panthers (12-11) moved to 8-2 in the SWAC and took over sole possession of first place over the Tigers (10-13, 7-3), who couldn’t overcome poor shooting at the beginning of each half.
“We’re the No. 1 and 2 teams in the conference, and it’s been like that the last couple of years,” Panthers coach Byron Smith said. “Great rivalry, great crowd out here tonight.
Definitely a big win for our program.”
TSU, which defeated Prairie View 71-67 in January, was attempting to sweep the regular-season series and go a full game up on the Panthers in the conference standings.
“We like winning. That’s what we aim to do,” TSU coach Johnny Jones said. “This was a great opportunity for ourselves to put ourselves in position to do that (take over first place), and we failed to do it.”
The Panthers remain unbeaten in seven games at the Baby Dome this season and have won 22 straight home games.
Patterson, the preseason SWAC Player of the Year, was a force throughout the game. The 6-7, 205-pound senior was 10 of 16 from the field and 7 of 9 from the foul line. Andrus totaled 21 points, making 9 of 14 shots.
For TSU, Justin Hopkins was the top scorer with 13 points, playing the full 40 minutes. Divonte Lumpkin added 10 points. Tyrik Armstrong, who missed last month’s game against Prairie View with a high ankle sprain, scored eight points and added eight assists.
TSU was a respectable 24 of 49 from the field, but the Tigers were only 1 of 8 on 3pointers. The Panthers were 24 of 48 from the field and 1 of 11 on 3-pointers.
The game got sloppy at times, TSU committing 17 turnovers. The Panthers turned the ball over 20 times but enjoyed a 36-23 rebounding advantage.
“Against these guys (TSU), you want to stay ahead of them (in the standings) or right there going into the final stretch,” Smith said. “We knew it was almost a must-win. We knew the ramifications if we did not win.”
The Tigers missed their first nine shots from the field of the second half, yet only trailed 45-40 with 11:12 remaining in the game. The Tigers missed 13 of their first 14 shots in the second half.
The Panthers scored the game’s first nine points before the Tigers’ John Jones converted a layup with 16:23 to play in the half.
TSU slowly chipped away, and the Tigers took their first lead midway through the first half. A Ja’Mare Redus steal and subsequent layup put the Tigers up 19-18 at the 10:02 mark, and the Tigers led 3934 at halftime.
Andrus had 12 first-half points for the Tigers, and Patterson 11 points.
“They had two guys really show up tonight and made a big difference in the ballgame,” Jones said. “In the second half, we did a bad job of taking care of the basketball, executing offensively, and then you let them get going on the offensive end.”
Because TSU and Prairie View are the league’s two best teams and entered Saturday atop the standings, there’s a good chance the two rivals could meet for a third time this season in the conference tournament next month.