Prairie View A&M returned to the winner's column for the first time since the second half of SWAC play began as they outscored Mississippi Valley State 25-9 over the final 11:33 to claim a 59-54 win on Saturday night in the William Nicks Building.

The first half was tight as it featured five ties and eight lead changes.  The Panthers led for nearly five minutes until a Paul Crosby trey gave MVSU a 12-10 lead at the 13:16 mark.  Michael Griffin tied the game on a layup but MVSU's Orlando Smith broke the tie several seconds later.  Prairie View's Trant Simpson tied the contest at 14 with 11:27 remaining but MVSU gained control of the contest over the next four minutes as they led by as much as four.

Prairie View regained the momentum as the half closed via back-to-back dunks from Michael Webb and Brandon Webb.  Ahead 21-20 with 6:05 left on the clock, PV took its largest lead of the half at 27-23 on Beloved Rogers' trey with 3:05 remaining.  MVSU countered and claimed a 28-27 margin as time ticked down but a free throw by Duwan Kornegay tied it at 28-all entering halftime.

  The Delta Devils opened the second half on fire as they went on a 15-3 run en route to a 43-31 lead with 15:58 remaining.  PV closed to within 10 on Brandon Webb's bucket but MVSU's Paul Crosby hit two free throws to up its margin back to 12 at 45-33 with 12:04 left.  From that point, Prairie View A&M dug deep and regained the momentum from the charity stripe as they hit five consecutive free throws to pull within seven at 45-38 as the clock read 9:27.

MVSU went back up by 11 nearly a minute later but PV continued to roll as Griffin hit two free throws followed by baskets from Tim Meadows and Brandon Webb to climb within three at 49-46 with 5:30 remaining.  Consecutive baskets by Webb and Simpson tied the contest at 51-all at the 2:29 mark and PV took its first lead since the first half on Simpson's layup with 1:45 left.

Once the Panthers reclaimed the margin, they never looked back as they went 4-of-4 from the line in the final 12 seconds to pull out the critical win.

Griffin led PV with 16 points and eight rebounds while Simpson and Brandon Webb both tallied 13 points apiece.  Orlando Smith led Mississippi Valley with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Prairie View returns to action on Monday as they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff in its annual NCAA Pack the House Challenge game.  The game will be televised live on ESPNU as they'll tip off at 6 p.m.  The women's contest versus UAPB will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the William Nicks Building and will also be televised on ESPNU.