Down to their final six regular season games, Prairie View A&M will begin a critical stretch this weekend as they open up a brief homestand versus Mississippi Valley State this evening inside the Baby Dome. With only six regular season games left, the Panthers own sole possession of fourth place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings and are locked in a fierce battle as they're two games out of third place, one game from fifth place and two games from seventh place.
Prairie View A&M is currently on its second, three-game winning streak of the season and once again have an opportunity to win four straight games for the first time since 2009. Since dropping a 73-71 heartbreaker to Alabama State on Feb. 2, the Panthers have rolled up their sleeves and stepped up their defensive intensity as their only allowing 52.3 points per game over the past three games and have compiled 21 blocked shots during that span.
PVAMU senior guard Montrael Scott, who surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in his career on Jan. 24 at Mississippi Valley State, is PVAMU's top scorer and ranks fourth in the SWAC with 15.6 points per game. Senior guard Tre Hagood follows with 10.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists while fellow senior guard John Brisco ranks 18th in the SWAC and third on the team in scoring with 10 points per game. Junior post Karim York is the team's second-leading rebounder with 5 per game along with chipping in 9.4 points. The Panthers have also received inspired play from senior center Reggis Onwukamuche as the Missouri City, Texas native ranks second in the SWAC with 1.4 blocked shots per outing and fourth with 2.3 offensive rebounds per game. He has accounted for 13 of the team's 21 blocked shots over the past three games.
Even though Mississippi Valley State leads the series with a 54-20 mark since 1980, the Panthers have regained the upper hand recently with wins in nine of the past 18 contests against the Delta Devils. However, MVSU has won six of the past 10 contests against the Panthers. A win tonight over MVSU would mark only the second time since 2010 that the Panthers would sweep the Delta Devils in the season series.
MVSU is led by first-year head coach Andre Payne, formerly of Wiley College. The Delta Devils have dropped three of their past four games as they fell to Southern 68-56 on Monday. Jordan Washington leads the Delta Devils with 13.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game followed by Jeffrey Simmons' 10.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per outing. DeAngelo Priar is the top rebounder with 4.7 per game while also averaging 9.9 points.
Prairie View A&M will return home Monday night to face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. inside the Baby Dome.
