JACKSON, Miss. – Grant Maxey hit two free throws with three seconds remaining to lift Jackson State to a 54-53 win over Prairie View A&M on Monday at the Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.
Jackson State stormed out to a 7-2 advantage and forced PV to take an early 20-second timeout. Senior post Brandon Webb responded and came out of the timeout on fire as the Terrell, Texas native scored five points during a 7-0 run to tie the game at 9-all with 14:25 remaining. JSU seized the momentum after PV's burst and pushed its lead back to eight on two occasions as the clock approached six minutes.
Down 25-17, Prairie View wouldn't go away as the Panthers put together a solid run to close the half as they outscored JSU 8-2 to trail 27-25 at halftime. During the run, freshman Demondre Chapman came up big with three points coupled with a big trey from senior Duwan Kornegay to keep PV in the game.
After exchanging two quick baskets to open the second stanza, both teams went into a shooting slump as no point was scored during a four-minute span. JSU's Grant Maxey ended the drought with a basket at the 15:17 mark but PV's Michael Griffin answered with a basket to keep PV within a two-point (31-29) margin. From that point, the Panthers found a spark as solid play on both ends of the ball from junior Tim Meadows provided the first lead of the night for PV after five straight points for a 34-32 advantage with 12:10 left.
However, the lead was brief as JSU outscored the Panthers 8-3 to claim a 42-37 margin at the 8:37 mark. But once again, Prairie View responded in a big way as Trant Simpson, Kornegay and Brandon Webb added baskets down the stretch as PV went on a 9-2 spurt to claim a 48-44 lead with 4:34 remaining. Maxey added a basket for JSU several seconds later to draw within two but PV countered with solid play on both ends to claim a 51-46 lead with 36 ticks remaining.
Unfortunately, the game caved in for the Panthers from that point as JSU's Cason Burk nailed a trey for a 51-49 JSU deficit. With 21 seconds left, Burk was fouled and hit 1-of-2 from the stripe for a 51-50 margin. PV had a chance to create a cushion for itself after Burk's miss but missed two hard looks at the basket with 15 seconds left. JSU rebounded the ball and missed an open trey but Maxey rebounded the ball and was fouled with three seconds left. Maxey gave JSU the lead for good after hitting both free throws while PV never recovered.
Simpson led PV with 13 points while Brandon Webb added 10. Maxey scored 14 to lead the Tigers.
PV returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 19 with a contest versus Mississippi Valley in the William J. Nicks Building beginning at 7:30 p.m.
