SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Prairie View A&M University men's basketball team lost at UC Santa Barbara 69-66 Friday night at The Thunderdome.
 
Gary Blackston scored 21 points with nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Zachary Hamilton scored 19 and had four rebounds. Shaquille Preston tied a career-high with nine points and had five rebounds, and  J.D. Wallace added eight points with a career-high 14 rebounds and four blocks.
 
The Panthers (2-4) saw a two-game win streak snapped and overcame two different double-digit deficits to take a late lead.
 
Trailing 27-11 with just under seven minutes to play in the first half, a three-pointer by Hamilton sparked a 19-1 run. He scored the first 10 points in the run and 13 of in the run overall. A pair of Blackston free throws gave PVAMU the lead with just under a minute to play until halftime, as the Panthers lead 30-28 at intermission.
 
An early second-half run by the Gauchos (3-3) gave UCSB a 44-34 lead with just over 14 minutes remaining before Prairie View A&M made another run. Blackston's layup started a 10-0 run over the next three minutes. A layup by Preston tied the score at 44-44 all with just over 11 minutes to play. The margin was no more than five points by either team the rest of the way.
 
Tied at 57-57 with just under seven minutes to play, the Panthers took the lead for the final time. Blackston score all the points in a 6-1 run to give the PVAMU a 63-58 lead with 5:05 remaining. After the teams traded baskets with a Blackston jumper again giving the Panthers a 65-60 lead with 4:28 remaining, Prairie View A&M was outscored 9-1 down the stretch.
 
Prairie View A&M returns to action Sunday, Dec. 3 at New Mexico State at 5 p.m.
 

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