Prairie View’s strong finish fizzles
Panthers bow out after Smith bids for coaching job with late surge
Prairie View A&M Panhad high hopes that its late-season momentum would translate into a few upsets in the SWAC tournament.
Instead, the Panthers saw their season come to an end in a 69-51 loss to Jackson State on Thursday at Toyota Center.
The Panthers trailed by three points with five minutes remaining in the first half when they went on a miserably long cold streak of shooting. Prairie View missed 19 of 20 shots in the next 15 minutes of play.
The Panthers finished the game shooting 31.6 percent, making just three of 19 from the 3-point line.
By the time the shots finally started falling, the damage was done, and Jackson State had established a 15-point lead.
Admassu Williams led Prairie View with 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, and Jayrn Johnson also had 10 points.
After losing their first 13 games of the season and starting 1-20, the Panthers won six of their final 10 games, finishing the season 7-24 overall and 7-11 in conference play.
Prairie View ends a turbulent year in which Byron Smith became the interim coach following the abrupt midseason resignation of Byron Rimm, who headed the program for 10 seasons.
Smith finished the season with a 6-6 record. At the time of Rimm’s departure, the Panthers were 1-18 and off to their worst start in a decade.
“It didn’t really end the way we wanted, but we can’t have many regrets because of the way we turned it around — he was a big part of that,” Williams said of Smith.
Smith is in his third year at Prairie View, and his status for the 2016-17 season is uncertain.
A former University of Houston standout, Smith has said a top priority if he were to take over the head coaching responsibilities on a permanent basis would be to recruit more heavily in the Houston area.
“I really, really hope I’ll be given the opportunity to come back and build on what we started to establish here at the end of the season,” Smith said. “We’ve got some nice pieces already, and with a few additional pieces, I believe we can put Prairie View A&M basketball on the map for years to come.”