EUGENE, Oregon - The Prairie View A&M University men's basketball team will return to action Monday at Oregon in an 8 p.m. game televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
The Panthers are coming off an 83-62 season-opening loss at Utah Friday night. PVAMU had four players in double figures. Gary Blackston and Dennis Jones each scored 16 points, with Blackston adding four rebounds and two assists, while Jones added four steals.
Shaquille Preston added 11 points and three rebounds, while
Zachary Hamilton scored 10 and added three rebounds. J.D. Wallace had a game-high 10 rebounds to lead both teams.
Prairie View A&M fell behind by as many as 11 points in the first six+ minutes before chipping away at the deficit. A three-point play by Hamilton brought the Panthers to within three at 34-31 with 1:44 to play until halftime. However, a scoring drought by PVAMU led to a 24-0 scoring run over the game's next eight+ minutes to break the game open.
"We played hard as we usually do," Panther head men's basketball coach
Byron Smith said. "We did go too long without scoring, but there are a lot of positives we can take from the game."
With big games off the bench by Jones and Preston, PVAMU had 43 points off the bench. The team also scored 24 points in the paint, and forced 19 Utah turnovers, resulting in 20 points.
Monday's game at Oregon will be the second in a six-game, two-week road trip to open the season. The Ducks (1-0), who went to the Final Four last season, opened the season with an 80-65 home win Friday over Coppin State.
"Oregon is another tough opponent for us," Smith said. "In these games, we focus on approach and executing our game plan, which we'll adjust from Friday's game.
