Texas Southern holds off Prairie View in 100-94 victory

Posted: January 6, 2018 -- 11:52 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (H&PE Arena) -- Most rivalry match-ups end up as close games. Someway. Somehow. Inside the H&PE Arena Saturday night was no exception. With 6:33 left in the ball game, the Texas Southern University Tigers led the Prairie View A&M Panthers 86-57; however, the Panthers refused to quit and went on a 29-7 run in 5 minutes and 27 seconds to get within seven points of Texas Southern. The Tigers held on to win defeat Prairie View 100-94 in front of 5,128 fans.

By the numbers: Texas Southern tops Prairie View, 100-94.

The first half was nip-and-tuck for nearly 8 minutes as neither team led by more than 4 points. Texas Southern's Donte' Clark tipped in a shot for a six point lead. TSU led by 7 before Prairie View scored 5 straight points to trim the Tigers' lead to 19-17 at the 8:50 mark of the opening half.

Texas Southern (3-13 overall, 3-0 in the SWAC) increased the lead to 9 points twice (last time at 4:08 of 1st half); but, Prairie's View Austin Starr made a 3-point shot to begin a 7-2 spurt to cut the lead to 34-30 with 2:07 left til halftime.

TSU's lead increased to 7; but, Prairie View's Zachary Hamilton drained a three-point shot with 3 seconds remaining in the first half to cut TSU's lead to 41-37 at halftime.

Prairie View (5-12, 2-1) made 15 field goals (35 attempts) in the first half while Texas Southern made 12 field goals (29 attempts); however, the Tigers made 12 foul shots (18 tries) to just 3 made free throws (out of 4) by the Panthers.

In the second half, TSU's Big Man, Trayvon Reed (7'2"), sank two free throws for a 48-42 Texas Southern lead with 16:20 on the clock. Seconds later, TSU's Little Man, Demontrae Jefferson (5'7") sank a three-point shot to begin a monstrous 38-15 run by the Tigers over the next 10 minutes to give the Tigers their largest lead of the game -- 29 points -- with 6:21 remaining in the game.

Then, Prairie View got hot from three-point range. As part of 14-4 run, Prairie View guard Gary Blackston sank four 3-point shots in less than two minutes. Blackston sank two foul shots in the run to account for all 14 points. Next, Austin Starr made two more three-point shots as the run expanded to 23 to 5 and sliced Texas Southern's lead to 93-86 with 56 seconds in the game.

Prairie View was forced to foul in the final seconds of the game; and, TSU's Demontrae Jefferson went to the line five times. Jefferson made 7 out of 10 foul shots to help Texas Southern ice the win.

Jefferson scored 23 points to lead the Tigers and teammate Derrick Bruce scored 22. The two of them combined to make 10 of 32 field goal attempts (9 out of 22 three-point attempts). Marquis Salmon scored 15 and pulled down 12 rebounds; while Donte Clark chipped 14 points and 7 rebounds; and, Lamont Walker scored 12 points.

Final score: Texas Southern 100, Prairie View A&M 94.

Gary Blackston scored 24 points to lead Prairie View. Zachary Hamilton added 18 points. Austin Starr scored 14; Keion Alexander scored 11 points; and Dennis Jones chipped in 10 points.

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