Texas Southern Tigers pummel Prairie View
February 2, 2013 -- 10:59 p.m.
HOUSTON, TX (H&PE Arena) -- The game was billed as the "Crosstown Classic" on Twitter. Texas Southern University was hosting Prairie View A&M. PV was looking to avenge it's January home loss to TSU. Texas Southern had no part of that discussion as the Tigers "opened up a can" and pulverized the Panthers 84-48 in front of an announced crowd of 8,024 fans.
The Panthers began the game going inside to big man Josh Eleby and Eleby responded with the Panthers' first 4 points of the game. However, Eleby picked up his second foul at the 17:12 mark of the first half and went to the bench.
At the time of the foul, the Tigers led 7-6 after Fred Sturdivant split the two foul shots.
The game was tied four times over the next four minutes before Prairie View's Demondre Chapman scored a layup to put the Panthers ahead 20-18.
Texas Southern trailed 22-19; then, Omar Strong went to work. Strong tied the game with a three-point bucket; and, after, teammates' Madarious Gibbs and Sturdivant each scored a layup, Strong nailed three consecutive three-point shots to stretch the Tigers' lead to 35-22 with 4:47 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers led 38-26 at halftime.
Strong scored his only two point shot to begin the second half scoring which kick-started an 8-0 Tigers' run to give them a 46-26 lead at the 17:56 mark.
Then, Strong knocked down two more three-point shots to boost the lead to 54-30; then, five minutes later, Strong swished three more three-pointers to up the rout to 75-37, TSU with 7:44 remaining in the game.
In total, Strong finished the game knocking down nine of his 13 three-point attempts and a game-high 33 points.
The Tigers shot 55.8% (29 for 52) from the floor including 53.8% (14 for 26 from three point range).
On the other end of the shooting spectrum, the Panthers shot a woeful 25.0% (18 for 72 from the floor; 2 for 9 on threes). The Panthers shot an ice cold 20% (7 for 35) in the second half.
With the win, the Tigers improve to 9-14 overall and 8-2 in the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference). Prairie View's record slips to 9-14 overall and 4-6 in the SWAC.
