HOUSTON, Texas – The Prairie View A&M men's basketball team couldn't get shots to fall in the second half of play Wednesday night, finding themselves in behind the eight-ball surrendering a 70-62 loss to the Owls in Tudor Fieldhouse in non-conference action.

The Panthers were on the short end as they spent the last five minutes of play falling behind the Owls.  PVAMU just shot 34 percent in the second half and the Owls owned a 37-26 advantage on the boards.

Rice shot 34 free throws compared to the Panthers 18.  They also only had 16 fouls to 26 for PVAMU. 

Graduate student Tekorian Smith led the Panthers with a season high 19 points, while graduate student Brandon Bell scored 13 and senior Jeremiah Gambrell scored 10 points.  Graduate student Kortrik Miles had a team-best of eight rebounds.

Rice had two players in double figures.  Quincy Olivari led the Owls with 27 points along with five rebounds, three assists and four steals.  Travis Evee added 10 points four rebounds and one steal.  Cameron Sheffield chipped in nine points, with a team high of 15 rebounds and one block shot.

The Panthers grabbed an early lead holding on to it throughout the first half, building a seven-point lead going into intermission up 32-25.

Down by 11, 48-37, the Owls found a spark when Olivari hit a jumper and then made a lay-up to begin Rice's comeback.  A layup and two 3-pointers by Evee knotted the game for the third time at 54-54 with 5:48 ticks left on the clock.

The Owls scratched its way to take a seven-point lead with just :38 seconds left in the game.  Showing patient at the free throw line gave Rice the 70-62 victory.

The next action for the Panthers will be next Saturday afternoon in the Welsh-Ryan Arena at Northwestern in Evanston, Ill on Dec. 11 for a 1 p.m. tipoff.

Keep up with all the latest news and information for PVAMU athletics by following pvpanthers.com as well as through Twitter via the PVAMU general sports account (@PVAMUPanthers). You can also follow along on Instagram.com/pvamupanthers.