QUEST FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT BID ON THE LINE FRIDAY NIGHT
The Prairie View A&M Panthers are back in action tonight versus longtime rival Texas Southern at the Toyota Center in Houston.  The No. 4 seed Panthers face No. 1 seed TSU in a rematch of last year's SWAC Tournament Championship.

With this being the SWAC Tournament, the stakes are high but this game has even higher stakes due to the fact that a berth in the championship game and the NCAA Tournament are on the line.  Prairie View A&M and TSU are both red hot as PVAMU has won nine of the past 10 while TSU has won nine straight.  

HONOR A FALLEN PANTHER
Head coach Byron Rimm II and the Prairie View A&M family lost a former Panther recently in former student-athlete Mayol Riathin.  Riathin, who played for the Panthers from 2011-2013, died recently in a car accident which took place in the state of Wyoming.  Riathin wore No. 33 during his tenure at PVAMU and the number will not be worn this season as it was originally assigned to Nolan Wilson.

THE SERIES
The Panthers will meet TSU in the SWAC Tournament for the sixth time with TSU holding a 5-1 mark. In the overall series dating back to 1980, TSU holds a 58-20 mark against PVAMU with 18 of PVAMU's wins occurring in 1997 or later.  PVAMU and TSU last met in February on the TSU campus with PVAMU prevailing 58-55.  PVAMU head coach Byron Rimm II is 8-14 lifetime versus Texas Southern and 2-5 when coaching against TSU's Mike Davis on the sidelines.  Davis is 5-2 against PVAMU as TSU's head coach.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Senior guard Tre Hagood is playing lights out as he's the reigning SWAC Player of the Week and is averaging 12.5 points (10th in SWAC), 5.3 rebounds (9th in SWAC), 4.9 assists (3rd in SWAC) and 2.4 steals (T-1st in SWAC).  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 15.2 points per game.  Senior guard John Brisco ranks 15th in the SWAC and third on the team in scoring with 11.2 points per game.  Junior post Karim York is the team's third-leading rebounder with 5.1 per game along with chipping in 8.9 points.  SWAC Defensive Player of the Year Reggis Onwukamuche is playing the best basketball of his career as the Missouri City, Texas native is tied for first in the SWAC with 1.7 blocked shots per outing, 10th with 5.2 rebounds and second with 2.4 offensive rebounds per game.  He has accounted for 33 of the team's 50 blocked shots over the past eight games.