BOX SCORE

It was a tale of two halves as Mississippi Valley State held Prairie View A&M to only 17 points in the second half en route to an 81-57 Delta Devil victory in the William J. Nicks Building on Saturday night.

Prairie View A&M came out red hot in the first half as they claimed an early nine-point (13-4) lead at the 13:14 mark.  The Delta Devils fought back and drew to within 19-17 three minutes later but two three-pointers by Ryan Gesiakowski fueled a 10-1 Prairie View A&M run over the next four minutes for a 29-18 advantage.  However, the tide began to turn in favor of Mississippi Valley as they outscored the Panthers 23-11 over the final six minutes to claim a 41-40 halftime margin.

A tip-in by sophomore guard Louis Munks gave the Panthers an early 42-41 lead to begin the second half.  MVSU's Paul Crosby scored off a putback on the ensuing possession but PV managed to knot the score at 43-all following a free throw from Gesiakowski.  From that point, everything began to unravel for the Panthers as they committed eight turnovers and shot 1-of-10 from the field during a nine-minute span which saw Mississippi Valley State break the game open with a 22-2 run for a 65-45 lead at the 9:13 mark.

The Delta Devils would lead by as much as 29 with 3:33 remaining until Prairie View closed the game out on a 5-0 run behind six turnovers from MVSU to end the contest.

Munks and Gesiakowski both led PV with 15 points apiece.  Munks also led the team with five rebounds while freshman guard Montrael Scott tallied four assists. Cor-J Cox came off the bench to lead MVSU with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

PV returns to action on Monday night as they'll host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 8:05 p.m. on ESPNU.