LINCOLN, Neb. – Prairie View A&M battled back from a large first half deficit and claimed a second half lead but Nebraska pulled away in the second half for a 81-50 win on Tuesday night at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The Panthers led in the opening stages of the game but fell behind quickly as the Huskers turned a 2-1 deficit into a 10-2 lead due to three PVAMU turnovers and six consecutive missed baskets.  Karim York would end the drought with a jumper at the 13:29 mark but the Huskers responded and broke the game open with a 16-2 surge to lead 26-8 with 7:06 left in the first half.

With their backs against the wall, the Panthers would counter as Tevin Bellinger nailed a trey and the team's defensive effort stepped up a notch as they forced six Husker turnovers in the final minutes to claw back into the contest.  Zachary Hamilton came up big on the offensive end and scored seven points along with two steals as his effort led to PVAMU outscoring Nebraska 20-5 to close the gap to 31-28 at halftime.

The combination of York and Hamilton would propel the Panthers to a 32-31 lead less than two minutes into the second stanza.  Both teams traded baskets with the Panthers remaining ahead 34-33 at the 17:32 mark.  However, the game would slip away as Nebraska went on a 12-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes to lead 45-34.  Two free throws by Admassu Williams cut the deficit to single digits at 45-36 with 14:20 remaining but the Panthers would stall offensively as they scored only 10 points the rest of the way while Nebraska opened the game up en route to the win in the first meeting between both schools.

York and Hamilton were the top two scorers with 16 and 13 points, respectively.  Williams led the team with six rebounds while York blocked two shots with Bellinger leading the way with four steals.

PVAMU returns the court on Dec. 28 as they'll travel to Louisiana Tech for its non-conference finale at 6:30 p.m. in Ruston, La.