RUSTON, La. – The Prairie View A&M University men's basketball team lost another tough road contest at Louisiana Tech 65-52 Tuesday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Zachary Hamilton led a balanced scoring attack for the Panthers with 11 points. Ja'Donta Blakely scored nine points with a career-high eight steals and five assists
Shaquille Preston had nine points, and
Daquan Cook had nine for Prairie View A&M.
The Panthers had more offensive rebounds than the Bulldogs (9-5), forced more turnovers (24-18), and had more steals (13-7), but came up short on the scoreboard.
"I thought we played pretty well probably for about 36 of the 40 minutes," said Prairie View A&M head coach
Byron Smith. "We had some lapses late and perhaps got winded, got a little tired and didn't execute. Overall, I thought it was a solid performance. At some point, we're going to have to be victorious and be on the other end of the scoreboard."
There were nine ties and three lead changes, all in the first half. PVAMU led for most of the first half, and led by as many as four points, the last time at 21-17 on a free throw by J.D. Wallace with 6:16 to play. However an 11-0 run by Louisiana Tech helped the Bulldogs to a 32-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Panthers withstood Louisiana Tech runs, cutting the deficit to one possession six times, including a one-point deficit (32-31) early in the second half, and the final time at 54-52 on a three-pointer by
Troy Thompson with 3:42 remaining. However, an 11-0 run by the Bulldogs ended the scoring.
The Panthers return to action Saturday at Utah at 5 p.m. CT, with a radio broadcast on the OpenMic Broadcast Network and televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
