PRAIRIE VIEW, Tx — The Southern University men's basketball team finished the Texas two-step sweep on Wednesday night, earning a 66-62 victory over Prairie View A&M at William J. Nicks Building.
Terrell Williams Jr. paced the Jaguars with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, to go along with a game-high eight rebounds and one assist.
Brion Whitley finished with 11 points, three rebounds, and two steals.
Southern (6-9, 2-0) jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the first three minutes behind Jalen Reynolds layup, Tekorian Smith kept Prairie View (5-10, 1-1) close as he made a layup and free throw to tie the game 7-7 with 15:54 left in the first half.
Southern scored the next eight straight points to extend the lead 15-7 after Bryson Etienne 3-pointer. Both teams began to find their footing on defense the next few minutes and slowed each other down. PVAMU closed the gap 15-10. But SU would maintain the lead over the next five minutes, as they went on a 6-0 run aided by Brion Whitley baseline jumper, extending the lead 21-10 at the 11:31 mark.
Back-to-back three-pointers from DeSean Woods and Isaiah Rollins gave the Jaguars their largest lead of the first half, 29-14, with 7:45 remaining. SU closed out the half capped off by Whitley making free throws taking a 35-26 lead into the break.
PVAMU opened the second half going on a 9-3 run after Will Douglas dunk, cutting into the SU lead 38-35 with 15:57 remaining. The Jaguars would respond going on a 11-2 run on their own after back-to-back 3-pointers from Terrell Williams Jr. and Tyrone Lyons pushing the SU lead 49-37 with 13:09 left.
The Panthers refused to go away as they outscored the Jaguars 11-0 over the next 4:03 to get within 63-61 with 1:14 left. SU tightened up its defense down the stretch switching back and forth from man and zone defenses forcing a PVAMU turnover late in the game. Senior guard P.J. Byrd came down the floor and hit a deep 3-pointer on the left wing with:18 seconds left, pushing the Jaguars lead 65-61. After a late panther made free throw, Byrd converted 1-of-2 free throws with:.04 seconds left to help lead SU to a 66-62 victory.