PVAMU Panthers Return To SWAC Championship
HOUSTON, TX—The Prairie View A&M Panthers (11-23) went into the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament, held March 11 – 15, 2014 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, with a mind to expunge the bitter taste of that one point defeat in last year’s championship game against No. 1 seed Southern.
The Panthers were picked to finish fourth in the SWAC this season but dropped seven straight games to close the regular season and entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Panthers drew Mississippi Valley State University’s Delta Devils in the first round who swept both games against the Panthers this season and were winners of six of their past eight to close the season.
Prairie View A&M used a balanced attack in the opener as six players scored in double figures as the Panthers pulled away from the Delta Devils by a 79-63 margin Tuesday night. Both teams started slow as they tried to get familiar with the large venue at Toyota Center, the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, but the Panthers broke the game open as they forced four MVSU turnovers in the final 4:51 for a 29-21 halftime margin.
Mississippi Valley State cut PVAMU’s lead to four points on five separate occasions within the first seven minutes of the second half. With 13:06 left, PVAMU senior Jules Montgomery (20) hit a pair of free throws and a MVSU turnover led to a Montrael Scott layup and a 43-35 margin. The Panthers forced another turnover three possessions later and began to roll as they went on a 14-4 run which expanded their lead to 52-39 at the 8:02 mark.
Valley closed to within 10 points at 53-43 a minute later but the Panthers kept charging as their lead grew to as much as 20 points on several occasions. A late barrage of three-pointers by the Delta Devils trimmed the lead to 12 points as the game came to a close but the Panthers were never threatened as they won their third postseason contest in two years.
Our own Jules Montgomery led PVAMU with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds followed by 17 points from Chapman, 15 from Tre Hagood, 13 from Montrael Scott and 10 by Munks. Chapman had a solid defensive game off the bench with a team-high four blocks.
The quarterfinals was a rematch of last year’s championship game but unlike last year’s one point heartbreaker Prairie View A&M pulled off the SWAC Tournament’s biggest shocker as the Panthers controlled the tempo from start to finish in a 64-46 rout over top-seeded Southern University Jaguars Wednesday night at the Toyota Center.
The Panthers had success early on as they maintained a 15-10 lead through the first three media timeouts thanks to a combination of defense, free throws and high percentage jump shots and led the Jaguars by seven points on several occasions.
Playing inspired defense, the Panthers kept the pressure on the Jaguars and upped its lead to 11 at 25-14 as senior Patrick Agho tipped in a missed layup. The Jaguars, who struggled tremendously at the free throw line, picked up its first basket since 4:25 off a missed free throw attempt which turned out to be the final margin (25-16) at halftime.
The Panthers came out sizzling to open the second stanza with a 10-0 run as they led by as much as 19 following Demondre Chapman’s layup off Tre Hagood’s assist at the 16:38 mark. Three minutes later, Louis Munks nailed 1 of 2 free throws for a 21-point (39-18) lead but Southern, the defending SWAC Champion, went on a 6-0 run to close within 14 points but four consecutive points by Montrael Scott kept the Panthers ahead by 16.
The Prairie View A&M Panthers made school history when they entered the semifinal round of the 2014 SWAC Tournament for the second straight year as they squared off against Alabama A&M at 8:30 p.m. Friday night in the Toyota Center.
For the third straight evening, the Prairie View A&M men’s basketball team started off strong but unlike its first two games, they had to hold on for dear life as the Panthers advanced to the SWAC Tournament Championship for the second consecutive year after a 55-49 defensive showdown over Alabama A&M.
Alabama A&M was the aggressor early on as the Bulldogs used their length to harass the Panthers on both ends of the court. The Bulldogs stormed out to a 10-4 lead on a Jeremy Crutcher trey with 14:59 left but senior Jules Montgomery hit back-to-back jumpers in the paint to cut AAMU’s lead down to 10-8.
The nerves began to disappear for PVAMU as they went on a 15-4 run over the next five minutes which extended its lead to 27-16 after two Demondre Chapman free throws. The Panthers led by as much as 13 on Chapman’s dunk with 29 seconds left but a late basket by AAMU’s Jerome Hunter set the score at 33-22 entering halftime.
Louis Munks scored the first four points of the second half as the lead grew to 15 at 37-22 with 18:47 remaining. However, Alabama A&M closed the gap to 37-28 with a 6-0 spurt but a free throw by Brisco and a Munks jumper pushed the lead back to 12 with 9:58 left. AAMU trimmed the lead to eight but a basket by Scott kept the Panthers’ double digit lead intact at the 7:08 mark. Every time AAMU attempted to cut into PVAMU’s lead, the Panthers responded as Chapman scored a layup for a 44-38 margin followed by two free throws from Hagood after AAMU closed to within four.
After a missed shot by Brandon Ellis, the Panthers created some much-needed separation as Chapman threw down a dunk and three-of-four free throws by Hagood created a 50-41 lead with 1:14 remaining. Again, the lead dwindled down to 51-47 with 30 seconds left on Crutcher’s layup but Scott hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe for the 52-47 lead. After the scare, the Panthers locked down the charity stripe as they hit 3-of-4 down the stretch to seal its first win over Alabama A&M since 2013.
The Prairie View A&M Panthers made the championship round of the 2014 SWAC Tournament for the second straight year as they faced their SWAC rival Texas Southern at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Toyota Center. This marks the first postseason championship game meeting between both teams since PVAMU’s win in 1998.
The Panthers faced the SWAC’s hottest team in the TSU Tigers, as they’ve won 9 of their last 10 games, with a ticket to the 2014 NCAA Tournament on the line. The Tigers have dominated head to head play against the Panthers as they hold a 56-19 mark dating back to 1980.
For the second straight year, Prairie View A&M’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament was snatched away in the second half as TSU overcame a double-digit deficit to claim a 78-73 win in the championship round of the 2014 SWAC Tournament at the Toyota Center.
For the fourth straight game, the Panthers came out smoking as Louis Munks scored seven points to fuel a 14-5 lead at the 13:41 mark. The Panthers were rolling along as Hershey Robinson and John Brisco nailed a trey along with a Montrael Scott layup for a 24-11 lead six minutes later. TSU went on a 9-3 surge to close within 27-20 at the 4:18 mark but Munks converted a three-point play followed by a Brisco jumper for the 32-20 lead. The Panthers led by double digits once again with 1:19 left on Scott’s jumper but TSU attacked the glass and relied on Aaric Murray’s three-point play with 1:06 left to end the half down 38-31.
The Panthers settled for one too many jump shots to open the half and TSU attacked the inside as they opened the half with a 9-0 run to knot the game at 40-all. TSU’s lead grew to 44-40 at the 15:25 mark but a trey by Scott moved the lead back to PVAMU at 45-44. Murray’s jumper on the ensuing possession gave TSU the lead once again and the Panthers were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way as their deficit grew to as much as 11 with 5:03 left.
Prairie View A&M chipped away at the lead via the free throw line and closed to within five points on four occasions over the next four minutes. The game’s turning point occurred with 1:31 left as Brisco hit a layup and the Panthers came up with a much-needed defensive stop after Ray Penn’s missed three-pointer. The Panthers couldn’t respond as they missed three straight shots with two of them blocked by Murray. PVAMU drew to within five with 20 seconds remaining but TSU was too solid from the charity stripe as they hit its next four attempts to seal the win.
Jules Montgomery, the elder son of Andrew and Mishan (Mimi) Cornute-Montgomery, grandson of Peter Cornute and 3rd great grandson of Clark Cornute, completed his senior year at Prairie View A&M University and recently signed a professional contract to play for the Floriana Basketball Club of Malta, 2014-2015.
