BOX SCORE

Prairie View A&M returned to its winning ways on Saturday night as senior guard Jourdan DeMuynck recorded a double-double in an 80-77 thriller that went down to the wire versus Mississippi Valley State in the Baby Dome.

Outside of one tie early in the first half, the Panthers led from start to finish before breaking the game open midway through the half with a 22-9 run for a 46-29 halftime advantage.  During the run, the Panthers dominated both inside and outside the paint as they nailed three treys combined with a strong rebounding and scoring effort from the post quartet of Jules Montgomery, Mayol Riathin, Demondre Chapman and Rasi Jenkins. 

DeMuynck scored PV's first basket of the second half followed by a highlight reel half-court alley-oop from point guard Carl Blair to post Josh Eleby for a 50-31 advantage with 18:02 remaining.  However, Eleby's dunk drew the ire of the officiating crew and he was whistled for a technical foul which led to two easy points for the Delta Devils as Davon Usher nailed two free throws.  Shortly thereafter, Mississippi Valley State's Ervin Thomas drained a three-pointer followed by a layup from Usher to draw within 12 but Montgomery and Eleby recorded back-to-back dunks to move the Panthers up by 16 (54-38) at the 16:01 mark.

Despite the large lead, the Panthers began to revert back to bad habits as they committed four turnovers and missed three free throws over the next four minutes.  On the opposite end of the court, the Delta Devils showed signs of life as they heated up and outscored the Panthers 11-4 to draw within 58-51 with 12:10 remaining after Usher's layup.

DeMuynck hit a big trey to end the drought followed by a jumper and pushed PV's lead back to 12 points nearly two minutes later. Sophomore point guard Montrael Scott joined the party with a layup for a 67-54 advantage followed by baskets from DeMuynck and Riathin as Prairie View A&M led 71-57 at the 6:51 mark.

Valley began to attack the basket and found its way to the free throw line numerous times over the next few seconds as they went 5-for-5 in less than a 20-second span to cut its deficit to 71-64.  But once again, DeMuynck and Riathin were there to bail the Panthers out as both hit key baskets for a 76-66 margin with 4:30 left on the clock.

Prairie View A&M allowed the Delta Devils to hang around from that point as they failed to lock up the game and throw away the key.  Over the final 3:36, the Panthers committed six costly turnovers, only attempted one shot, missed several free throws and committed four fouls as the Delta Devils chipped away at the lead.  After chipping away for so long and feeding off a critical PV turnover, MVSU drew to within 79-77 with 25 seconds remaining following Blake Ralling's three-pointer.  MVSU fouled Panther freshman Cory Jones on the ensuing possession and the Cy Lakes High School product hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe for an 80-77 margin with 19 seconds left.

With 12 seconds left, the Panthers were on the verge of making a huge stop as Montgomery picked off a pass near the baseline but gave the ball right back to MVSU after stepping out of bounds.  MVSU immediately called a timeout and had a chance to send the game into overtime but Ralling's three-pointer fell short with three seconds left.  Montgomery rebounded the ball as MVSU lost track of the action by not fouling him and let time run out as PV split the season series with them.

DeMuynck finished 11-of-19 from the field for 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds along with five assists and three steals.  The Panthers also received an impressive performance from Riathin as the senior post grabbed nine rebounds and scored eight points off the bench.  Usher led Mississippi Valley State with 28 points while Thomas pulled down a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Panthers are back in action on Monday night as they'll battle Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. in the Baby Dome.