The Prairie View A&M Men’s Basketball team has made history by winning its first NCAA Tournament Game. The Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions (SWAC) have hit their stride, securing their 8th consecutive win beating Lehigh University 67-55 tonight. The Panthers’ ability to secure rebounds and score in the paint, scored 34 points in the paint, and added 18 points off turnovers. Prairie View A&M’s defensive pressure was key, with the team moving their feet to help on defense to prevent any mismatches Lehigh could exploit to score easy baskets.
The Mountain Hawks’ leading scorer, Nasir Whitlock, who averages 21 points per game during the season, was held to 5 points, shooting 2 for 15, added 3 rebounds, but couldn’t find his rhythm during the game because of the Panthers’ defense, which forced him to his weak hand preventing him to use his offensive ability had to defer to his teammates to score. The Mountain Hawks Hank Alvey was the only player to score double figures, with 23 points, and added 15 rebounds.
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Panthers Corey Wells was active in the first half, scoring 12 points of his 19 points in the first half, adding 11 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks that were pivotal for Prairie View A&M University getting the lead in the game. The 11 rebounds Wells secured in the game were all on the defensive end. PVAMU had a slight edge out-rebounded Lehigh University on the defensive end 27-25. The Panthers definitely hung their hat on the defensive end of the court tonight. The Panthers had two other players who scored double digits in the game, Dontae Horne who was the leading scorer had 25 points, adding 7 rebounds, and Lance Williams added 10 points 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
The Prairie View A&M Panthers continue to carve their names in the history books as an Historical Black College University (HBCU) team beating a Power 5 team in the First Four game of the NCAA tournament. Since 2013, Norfolk State, Texas Southern, Grambling State, Alabama State, Howard University, Hampton University, North Carolina A&T, and Prairie View A&M University have all been successful punching their ticket to get into the dance. he Panthers beat Lehigh University 67-55 to play the Florida Gators on Friday at 9:25 PM.