PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas- The Prairie View A&M men's basketball team defeated Jackson State University 63-58 in overtime Monday evening at the William J. Nicks Building in SWAC action in front of a national televised audience on ESPNU.
 
The game was highly competitive with 10 ties and a dozen lead changes. The contest was quite the defensive struggle with neither team shooting better than 26 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and with each team turning the ball over more than 15 times.
 
Dennis Jones led the Panthers in scoring with 22 points on 47 percent shooting from the field. Zachary Hamilton tallied 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, while J.D. Wallace registered seven points and pulled down 14 rebounds as he played all 45 minutes of the contest.
 
The squads traded baskets to begin the contest, a converted Troy Thompson three-point attempt gave the Panthers a 12-8 advantage with 14:02 left in the opening frame.  The game had a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than five points in the subsequent minutes. 
 
Wallace put the Panthers in possession of a five-point lead with eight minutes left in the half. Prairie View later led by as many as seven, but JSU battled back tying the game at 24 with 4:39 to go. The Tigers took a 30-28 lead with a last second layup going into the half.
 
The beginning of the second half was quite similar to the start of the opening half, with both teams trading buckets. A Jones layup gave the Panthers a one-point advantage with 16:33 to go.  JSU and PVAMU continued to trade baskets and the lead in the following minutes. Hamilton buried a duo of free throw attempts to give PVAMU a three-point stretch with a little less than 11 minutes remaining in regulation.
 
The Tigers tied the contest at 51 less than four minutes later. With 1:46 to go in the contest JSU led 56-54. Thompson later nailed a pair of free throw attempts to tie the game with 1:15 to go. With less than three seconds on the game clock, the PVAMU defense forced a shot clock violation, which gave the Panthers the ball with a shot to end the game in regulation. A half court desperation heave from Jones caromed off of the backboard and at the end of 40 minutes of entertaining basketball with the score knotted at 56.
 
 
The five-minute overtime period was a defensive struggle, as there was only one converted field goal attempt during the extra session. Converted free throw attempts from Hamilton, Thompson and Jones secured the victory for the Panthers 63-58
 
The Panthers will return to the hardwood for action on Saturday February 17th in Pine Bluff Arkansas to take on UAPB with tip off set for 7 p.m.
 
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