In his final game in the Baby Dome, senior Montrael Scott erupted for a career-high 31 points as Prairie View A&M overcame an early deficit to hold off Alcorn State 83-80 in the William J. Nicks Building on Saturday evening.

Prairie View A&M could never shake off the pesky Braves as there were three ties within the first nine-and-a-half minutes.  Alcorn State eventually took control as they went on a 13-3 run over the next five minutes to claim a 29-19 lead but the Panthers cut the lead in half thanks in part to John Brisco's five points. 

Down 31-26 at the 3:19 mark, the Panthers saw their brief run disappear as ASU pushed the lead back to double digits after a 5-0 run.  Scott would hit a trey with 26 seconds remaining to give the Panthers some dose of momentum as they were down 39-26 at the half.

The Panthers came out on fire in the second half with a 7-0 run to force an ASU timeout and a 38-36 deficit.  Prairie View A&M would keep knocking on the door over the next few minutes as they drew to within one point on several occasions before a trey by Brisco tied the contest at 50-all with 13:47 on the clock.  The contest would turn into an old-fashioned three-point shootout from that point as the Panthers hit three straight treys to turn a tie game into a 56-53 lead.  One minute later, junior Charleston Dobbs electrified the crowd with a putback dunk which in turn knocked down the shot clock from its pedestal as the Panthers led 60-55 at the 11:03 mark.

The offense would keep flowing as the lead grew to 73-61 with 6:02 left but Alcorn State kept on fighting and went on a 12-2 run to draw within 75-73 with 2:26 left.  Two free throws by Scott increased PVAMU's lead to 77-73 and the Panthers made a defensive stand on the ensuing play as Reggis Onwukamuche blocked an ASU attempt out of bounds.  After a pair of turnovers by both teams which saw PVAMU benefit after a Dobbs' steal, Tre Hagood was fouled and hit two free throws for a 79-73 cushion which barely lasted as ASU's Reginald Johnson nailed a trey to close the gap to 79-76 with 1:06 left.

Scott hit two more free throws to give the Panthers a two-possession (81-76) lead but a quick ASU basket followed by a Panther turnover with 49 seconds left turned the contest into an 81-80 PVAMU margin with 42 seconds left.  Hagood was fouled with 10 seconds left and hit his final two free throws in the Baby Dome for an 83-80 advantage but the Braves had one final shot to win as they called a timeout at half court with six seconds left.  Coming off the timeout, the Braves were in a state of confusion as they ended up dribbling out the clock instead of getting off a final attempt at the buzzer.

Scott led the way with 31 points and seven rebounds followed by 20 points from Hagood and 13 from Brisco.  LeAntwan Luckett led the way with 20 points for the Braves.

SWAC Tournament time begins for the Panthers next week as they're unofficially the No. 4 seed with the official bracket announced on Sunday.  The Panthers will open tourney play on Thursday evening at the Toyota Center.