STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Prairie View A&M men's basketball team dropped a hard fought contest to Mississippi State on Friday night by a margin of 71-56 inside Humphrey Coliseum.

Playing with a new starting lineup, the Panthers fell behind early in the first half by a margin of 14-4 but regrouped to draw within five points at 22-17 following a 13-8 run which featured baskets from Jules Montgomery, Demondre Chapman and Tre Hagood.  Mississippi State answered Prairie View A&M's run with a run of its own from that point as they increased its lead to 35-20 with a 13-3 run at the 3:14 mark.

A layup by Louis Munks drew the Panthers to within 10 points but MSU moved ahead by 13 with 1:07 remaining.  However, a free throw by Montrael Scott and layup from Tre Hagood in the final 1:07 cut MSU's lead to 38-28 at halftime.

An 0-for-4 shooting performance doomed the Panthers to begin the second half as the Bulldogs jumped ahead by 16 (45-29) at the 16:34 mark.  Mississippi State remained ahead by double digits over the next several minutes until senior Patrick Agho, Scott and Louis Munks combined to score six points to close within 49-39 with 11:53 remaining.  PVAMU continued its strong defensive stand as they forced MSU to commit three straight turnovers but they failed to counter offensively as they missed its next four shots.

A layup by Scott ended the drought and drew the Panthers to within 49-41 with 9:30 left on the clock.  The Panthers hung close from that point but couldn't get over the eight-point hump over the next few minutes until a trey from Scott closed the gap to 62-55 with 4:33 left in the half.  On the ensuing possession, Agho picked up a key block but the Panthers failed to capitalize as Scott missed a jumper coupled with back-to-back turnovers which saw MSU up its lead to 67-55 with 2:33 remaining.  The Bulldogs managed to hold on from that point as they claimed their second win over Prairie View A&M in school history as the teams met for the first time since 1992.

Scott led the Panthers with 15 points followed by 13 from Munks, who was playing in his first contest since November of 2012.  Hagood had 11 points in his PVAMU debut while 2013 SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Jules Montgomery led the way with five rebounds.  Junior Hershey Robinson and Agho both finished with two blocks apiece.

The Panthers return home on Monday night for their 2013-14 home opener versus Schreiner University at 7 p.m. inside the Baby Dome.