The Prairie View A&M University basketball teams will open the final regular season homestand in a Thursday doubleheader hosting Southern.
Thursday is the White Out game, with the women's contest starting at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m., with a live radio broadcast of both games on KPVU 91.3 FM, and live video stream on pvpanthers.com.
A lot is at stake for all four teams on the final weekend of the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season. The Lady Panthers (11-17 overall, 6-10 SWAC) can secure a berth in next week's SWAC Tournament with a win Thursday over Southern, or a win Saturday over Alcorn State, or a loss by Jackson State in one of its final two games to Alabama A&M or Alabama State. The Southern women (13-11, 11-5) are tied for third place with Alabama State, one game behind second-place Texas Southern and two games behind first-place Grambling.
Prairie View A&M is coming off a 74-61 loss at Alabama State Monday night, which ended a three-game winning streak for the Lady Panthers.
Alexus Parker tied a season high with 25 points in the game, and is third in the SWAC in scoring at 15.7 points per game.
On the men's side, the Panthers (11-19, 8-8) are in a three-way tie for fourth place with Jackson State and Grambling State. There are several combinations for PVAMU to secure the fourth seed in the standings, all of which involve winning the final two games plus some help, which would give the Panthers a home game in the first round of tournament play Tuesday. In the new Toyota SWAC Tournament format, the top four seeds will host a home game on its campus, with the winners advancing to Houston for the semifinals and finals at Toyota Center March 10-11. The Southern men (14-15, 10-6) are in third place in the standings.
Prairie View A&M won 77-58 at Alabama State Monday night.
Tevin Bellinger scored a game-high 20 points in the win, his 16
th straight game with 10 or more points. Bellinger is fourth in the conference in scoring in SWAC games, averaging 17.6 points per contest.
Both PVAMU teams end the regular season Saturday in a 3 p.m. doubleheader hosting Alcorn State on Senior Night and the Fan Appreciation Game at the William J. Nicks Building.
