GREENWOOD, Miss. – Prairie View A&M made history Monday night but it came with drama as Jayrn Johnson hit three free throws with six-tenths of a second remaining to lift the Panthers over Mississippi Valley State 63-61 for their first road sweep in the Mississippi Delta in three decades.
For the second straight game the Panthers came out on fire as they claimed a 13-4 lead led by Admassu Williams' play in the paint. The 6-8 junior had his way with the Delta Devils early on as he threw down a pair of dunks in addition to several offensive rebounds. However, MVSU battled back and cut the lead to 13-10 but Williams began to heat up once again as he scored five straight for an 18-10 PVAMU lead. The Delta Devils trimmed their deficit to 20-15 with 8:49 remaining but PVAMU played solid on both ends and took their best shot as they went on a 16-5 surge to push its lead up to 36-20 after Tevin Bellinger's trey at the 3:09 mark.
Similar to the first meeting between both teams in January, the Panthers failed to put the Delta Devils away as the half came to a close as MVSU went on a 9-0 run for a 38-29 halftime margin.
The second half resembled a wild roller coaster ride as the Panthers fortunately had their seat belts buckled. MVSU's Marcus Romain previewed what was to come as his six points drew them to within seven at 42-35 but the Panthers would match his production as Jayrn Johnson nailed a trey with 14:25 left for a 45-35 lead.
Points would be hard to come by for PVAMU as they went scoreless for nearly two minutes until Jordan Giddings' much-needed three-point play the old-fashioned way pushed the lead to 48-37 followed by another jumper for a seemingly safe 13-point (50-37) lead at the 10:35 mark. The lead would remain in double digits for the next two minutes but the wild ride began as MVSU went on a 10-2 run to narrow the gap to 54-52 after Romain's layup with 4:25 left in the contest.
Playing with four fouls, Johnson hit a big jumper to move the lead back to two possessions but MVSU refused to back down as Ta'Jay Henry's three-point play narrowed the lead to 56-55. A charging foul with 2:42 left by PVAMU turned into a negative play as MVSU's Jabari Alex scored a layup for its first lead (57-56) of the game.
The Panthers missed the ensuing jumper and Romain drove the length of the court and moved MVSU up by three (59-56) with 1:52 left but Admassu Williams returned to the scoring column with a huge layup to cut PVAMU's deficit to 59-58. A foul by the Panthers led to two free throws from Romain and a 61-58 deficit with 1:14 left. On the next possession, Malik Amos' trey attempt fell short but Karim York came up with the huge offensive rebound and Jayrn Johnson drew PVAMU to within 61-60 with the layup at the 1:03 mark.
Needing a stop in order to have a chance to win the game with a basket, the Panthers stepped up at the right time as MVSU's Isaac Williams missed a basket which landed in the hands of Ja'Donta Blakely. PVAMU took its final timeout with 16 seconds left and narrowly avoided a disaster as a jump ball was called with the Panthers holding possession with three seconds left.
MVSU would call a timeout after the jump ball to set up its defense and PVAMU interim head coach Byron Smith found a way to get the ball into the hands of Johnson to work some magic. Johnson received the ball with little time left and attempted a three-pointer which turned into a foul as he drew contact. With the crowd stunned and six-tenths of a second left, Johnson calmly nailed all three shots to seal the win as MVSU's desperation bucket was short at the buzzer.
Johnson continued his hot streak as he scored 20 points with four rebounds, two steals and a block. Williams had a big game with 21 points and six rebounds while York grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The Panthers are back in action on Saturday as they'll return home to face Alabama A&M at 5 p.m. inside the Baby Dome. PVAMU is 4-1 in the second half of SWAC play at this point and has worked its way back into a tie for sixth place with an opportunity to capture sole possession of fifth place this upcoming weekend.
