EUGENE, Ore. – Prairie View A&M held Stephen F. Austin to two points in the final four minutes of play as the Panthers picked up a 53-50 non-conference win on Tuesday evening in the first round of the Global Sports Hoops Showcase at the Matthew Knight Arena on the University of Oregon campus.

For the second straight game, the Panthers had a solid start as they raced out to a 9-2 lead at the 16:59 mark.  SFA bounced back after the early deficit and outscored the Panthers 8-0 over the next four minutes en route to a 10-9 advantage.  Prairie View quickly regrouped and reclaimed an 11-10 lead following Ronald Wright's layup and upped their margin to five at 18-13 after back-to-back baskets from Demondre Chapman and Ryan Gesiakowski.  The Panthers never relinquished the lead from that point as they closed out the first half ahead by one at 23-22.

The Panthers led by five on three occasions within the first three minutes of the second stanza.  Despite three ties and several furious attempts by SFA to get back into the contest, Prairie View A&M held its ground until the midway point as the Lumberjacks claimed their first lead (39-37) of the half following a 6-0 surge at the 9:53 mark.  Prairie View A&M sophomore guard Louis Munks scored three consecutive points to give the Panthers a brief lead at 40-39 with 8:47 remaining.  However, SFA immediately moved back on top after Hal Bateman's basket and eventually led by as much as four (46-42) with 4:54 left on the game clock. 

Down by four, sophomore Jules Montgomery missed a three-pointer which was rebounded by junior Marcellus Jackson.  Jackson missed the ensuing jumper but Montgomery was there to clean up as his tip-in closed the gap to 46-44.  SFA's Antonio Bostic answered with a basket in the paint on the following possession but PV continued to fight as Ronald Wright logged a layup to keep PV within two at 48-46 with 3:43 left.

The Lumberjacks missed their next attempt at the basket and PV took advantage as Gesiakowski nailed a huge three-pointer off an assist from Jackson for a 49-48 advantage.  After two unsuccessful free throws and a missed three-pointer by SFA, Chapman upped PV's lead to three (51-48) after connecting on a jumper at the 1:55 mark.  The Panthers clicked on all cylinders from that point as they held SFA to 0-for-3 shooting from the field while using free throws from Montgomery and Jackson to seal the program's first win over SFA since 1965 and the first win over a Southland Conference foe since 2003.

Tuesday's game marked the first meeting between both teams since 1987.

For the second straight game, both Chapman and Gesiakowski led the Panthers in scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively.  Montgomery led the team with six rebounds while Jourdan DeMuynck dished out three assists.

Prairie View A&M returns to action tomorrow evening as they'll play tourney host Oregon at 9 p.m. CST.