Southern 45, Prairie View A&M 44: Derick Beltran scored 13 points and the top-seeded Jaguars held on to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Brandon Moore scored four of his six points in the final 3:42 as Southern (23-9) secured its first trip to the Big Dance since 2006. YonDarius Johnson scored eight points for the Jaguars while Malcolm Miller grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Jourdan DeMuynck scored a game-high 15 points for Prairie View A&M (15-19), but lost control of the ball while driving for a potential game-winning basket with one second left.
The Jaguars won both regular-season meetings, including a 61-39 drubbing at Prairie View in the regular-season finale, but were stymied until Moore scored twice in a 7-0 spurt to give them a 45-38 lead with 1:41 to play.
The Panthers went to their full-court press and forced a pair of turnovers during a 6-0 burst to pull within 45-44 on Montrael Scott's floater with 42 seconds left. A 3-point attempt by Southern's Jameel Grace was well of the mark, and DeMuynck grabbed the rebounded and bolted to the other end before losing the ball in the lane just before the buzzer sounded.
Prairie View A&M | Southern | |
Jourdan DeMuynck 15 | Scoring | Derick Beltran 13 |
Carl Blair 4 | Assists | Derick Beltran 2 |
Jules Montgomery 12 | Rebounds | Malcolm Miller 9 |
Carl Blair 3 | Free Throws Made | YonDarius Johnson 6 |
Carl Blair 2 | Steals | Derick Beltran 2 |
Jules Montgomery 2 | Blocks | Derick Beltran 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Prairie View A&M | 44 | 33.3 | 3-14 | 7-13 | 10 | 34 | 4 | 3 | 14 |
Southern | 45 | 33.3 | 1-10 | 14-19 | 6 | 31 | 4 | 8 | 13 |