Men's Basketball 3/8/2018 9:23:00 PM

Panther Teams Set for SWAC Semifinals

HOUSTON – Both Prairie View A&M basketball teams have advanced to the SWAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2015 and will play Friday at Delmar Fieldhouse.

The #4 seed PVAMU women will play #1 seed Southern Friday at Noon, and the #2 PVAMU men will face #3 Texas Southern Friday night at 8:30 p.m. Panther Nation is encouraged to buy seats early and make Delmar Fieldhouse a PVAMU home court advantage. Both games can be heard live at pvpanthers.com/sportsnetwork, with pregame shows beginning at 11:45 a.m. and 8:15 p.m., respectively.

Tickets are on sale online at www.swac.org. There will be no SWAC Tournament tickets sold on the PVAMU Campus. Tickets are sold in sessions (Friday games at Noon and 2:30 p.m.; Friday games at 6 and 8:30 p.m.; Saturday championship games at 12:30 and 4 p.m.).

Tickets are $15 per session on Friday, and $20 on Championship Saturday. Group tickets or more can be purchased for $12 for each of the Friday semifinal sessions, and $17 each on Saturday.

Women's basketball will look to advance to the SWAC Tournament final for the first time since 2014 when the program completed a run of four straight league tournament titles.

The #4 seeded Lady Panthers advanced with a 66-64 win over #5 Jackson State. Shala Dobbins, who set an NCAA single season record for free throws made and attempted in the win, scored a game-high 29 points with dive rebounds and was a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line. Jhyrah Cobb's near triple double (11 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists) and Dominique Newman's 10 and four assists led the comeback win.

Prairie View A&M will face top-seed and regular season champ Southern which won the title outright with a 96-58 win over the Lady Panthers last Saturday in Baton Rouge. PVAMU won the first meeting this season over Southern 69-62 at home on January 3.

Southern advanced to the semifinals with a 70-60 home win over #8 seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Briana Green was a first-team All-SWAC selection and the league's Defensive Player of the Year.

"The biggest thing going into this type of game is surviving the advance," said head PVAMU women's basketball coach Ravon Justice. "We have fought all year, we had some nail bitters and I think this has prepared us for this upcoming game all year. I think that we are ready for the challenge. I tell my players all the time that if the opportunity is there that you need to take full advantage of it."

Men's basketball will look to advance to the SWAC Tournament final for the first time since 2014.

The Panther men led most of the way in an 87-71 win Tuesday over #7 Alcorn State. For the second time this season, a pair of Panthers recorded double-doubles. J.D. Wallace posted his sixth career double-double with 16 points and 11 assists. Dennis Jones posted his third career double-double with 16 points and 14 assists.

For the third time this season and second time in the last three games, all five Panther starters were in double figures. Gary Blackston scored a game-high 21 points, Troy Thompson scored 18 points, and Zachary Hamilton 12 points with eight rebounds for the Prairie View A&M, which won its fifth straight game and for the 11^th time in the last 13 games.

It's the third meeting of the season between the Panthers and Tigers, with each team winning on their own home court. The Panthers nearly erased a 29-point deficit in the final 6 1/2 minutes before losing at TSU 100-94 on Jan. 6. In the last meeting, Prairie View A&M never trailed in winning 96-82 on Feb. 3

Texas Southern advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday with a 90-76 win over #6 seed Alabama St.

"I have the up most respect for Coach Mike Davis," said head men's PVAMU basketball coach. "He's like a mentor to me. When we played them (speaking of Texas Southern) the first time we had one approach and, then we when played them a second time we too have a different approach. We have to approach each game with a plan and prepare accordingly. Each game is forty minutes and that's all you have there isn't another game its win or go home. We have won 11 out of 13 ball games and not that many teams have had that type of ."
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Players Mentioned

#32 Jhyrah Cobb: F; 6' 3"; Freshman

#5 Shala Dobbins: G; 5' 6"; Junior

#12 Dominique Newman: G; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#14 Zachary Hamilton: F; 6' 4"; Senior

#0 Troy Thompson: G; 6' 4"; Senior

#3 Gary Blackston: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#11 Dennis Jones: G; 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

#32 Jhyrah Cobb
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: F

#5 Shala Dobbins
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

#12 Dominique Newman
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: G

#14 Zachary Hamilton
: 6' 4"; Senior
: F

#0 Troy Thompson
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G

#3 Gary Blackston
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#11 Dennis Jones
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior
: G