GRAMBLING, La. – A late Grambling State basket followed by a controversial no-call in the closing seconds was the difference in the game as Prairie View A&M fell 66-63 at the Hobdy Assembly Center on Saturday night.

Prairie View A&M led early but Grambling State took advantage of early foul trouble by the Panthers and hot shooting as Mark Gray's trey pulled GSU ahead 11-9 at the 14:16 mark.  PVAMU's Tyler Miller answered with a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the game but GSU moved back ahead thanks to its offensive rebounding as they tallied three boards on the following series to regain a 13-11 lead on Ervin Mitchell's bucket.

Grambling State would extend its lead to 17-14 over the next two minutes as the only points the Panthers would muster was a free throw by Jayrn Johnson and a jumper by Jordan Giddings.  However, the tide of the game would begin to move in PVAMU's favor as junior guard Tevin Bellinger tied the contest at 17-all on a trey and he followed his play up with a steal on the defensive side of the ball which led to a layup and a 19-17 PVAMU lead with 6:04 remaining.

GSU would tie it up but Zachary Hamilton moved the needle back in PVAMU's favor as Johnson's assist led to a 21-19 lead.  From there, Bellinger would take over with two additional treys and lead a 17-7 run which put the Panthers ahead 31-24 at the 2:20 mark after Nolan Wilson's free throw.  A late 5-0 run by Grambling State would cut the lead to 31-29 with 21 seconds left but Admassu Williams' three-point play the old-fashioned way in the paint with eight ticks left sent the Panthers into the locker room ahead 34-29.

The Panthers came out clicking on all cylinders as the second half lead grew to 48-37 with 13:26 remaining but Grambling State responded with a 16-4 run to lead 53-52.  Hamilton's much-needed three-pointer from the PVAMU bench put the Panthers back ahead 55-53 for a brief period until Deonte Hearns' layup tied the contest at 55-all at the 5:05 mark.

With 3:12 left, the Panthers jumped ahead 57-55 on Bellinger's two free throws and held on after a pair of missed GSU free throws on the ensuing possession.  However, the next offensive series didn't go too well as they were forced to surrender the ball back to the Tigers after a shot clock violation at the 2:27 mark.  The violation would come back to bite the Panthers on GSU's next drive as Chase Cormier logged an acrobatic layup under the basket to tie it up at 57.

On the next possession, the Panthers nearly had another shot clock violation but Bellinger's awareness with two seconds on the shot clock moved the ball to Avery Lomax.  Lomax was fouled on his three-point attempt and hit all three baskets to put PVAMU ahead 60-57 with 1:41 left.  Grambling's Deonte Hearns was fouled on the next possession and hit two free throws to pull within 60-59.  The Panthers missed a three-pointer on their next possession and Hearns drove the length of the court and recorded a three-point play to give GSU a 62-60 lead with 40 seconds left.

On the next play, the Panthers overcome several near turnovers as Jayrn Johnson's huge offensive rebound off a basket led to a huge trey by Bellinger and a 63-62 lead with 17.9 seconds left.  The momentum was brief though as Hearns drove to the paint to reclaim GSU's lead and PVAMU's game-winning shot attempt fell short.  However, a Grambling State fan ran onto the court after a PVAMU foul with a second remaining but the officiating crew didn't issue a technical foul.  GSU's Nigel Riberio hit a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a three-point lead as PVAMU's last shot attempt fell short.

Bellinger finished with 23 points and two steals while Hamilton finished with 11 points.

The Panthers are back in action on Monday at Jackson State as tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.