Prairie View Survives Double-Overtime Thriller Against Texas Southern

The Prairie View Panthers survived a double-overtime nailbiter against cross-town SWAC rival Texas Southern.

HOUSTON - H&PE Arena rocked during the double-overtime thriller between cross-town SWAC rivals Prairie View A&M (8-14, 4-5 SWAC) and Texas Southern (7-15, 3-6 SWAC).

Jan. 28, 2023; Prairie View defeats Texas Southern 89-74 at H&PE Arena in Houston, TX; Credit: Kyle T. Mosley, HBCU Legends

7,371 fans witnessed the visiting Panthers survive a nailbiter as they outlasted the Tigers 89-74 in a critical SWAC matchup that will have tournament ramifications.

"We're not playing our style of basketball," Coach Byron Smith told HBCU Legends. "We gave up some easy plays. We just had to stay focused on what we needed to do. And the guys are just tired of being in the middle of the pack [in the SWAC]. We feel like we're a Top 2 or 3 team in this league. But some things got to fall our way. Our guys came out the second half with a total team effort and showed in overtime as well."

The Panthers raced out to an early 11-0 lead over the Tigers until John Walker III hit on a pair of free throws at 15:48 in the first half. Walker III scored 15 points and snatched 9 rebounds.

The Tigers were dead cold to open the game until they figured out the Panthers' zone defense, penetrated it, and forced them into fouls inside the paint.

Jan. 28, 2023; Texas Southern University head basketball coach Johnny Jones; Credit: Kyle T. Mosley, HBCU Legends

"We tried to drive the ball inside to create some foul opportunities. We didn't get to the foul line as much as we liked," coach Johnny Jones told reporters.

Down most of the first half, TSU made a run when Zytarious Mortle hit a mid-range runner to sneak within 5 points to 27-22 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half.

Joirdon Karl Nicholas put up a layup after another Mortle steal to finally capture the lead at 28-27 over the Panthers.

Later, Mortle would be the bandit again. He stoled the basketball near half-court and had a monster slam that sent the TSU faithful into a frenzy. Texas Southern would go up 30-27 and coasted to a 34-28 halftime advantage over Prairie View.

The first half was strange. Texas Southern had a 12-point scoring run and Prairie View had an 11-point scoring run.

2nd Half

Texas Southern came out of the break, scoring four times to the home crowd's delight, 41-32 at the 14:26 mark.

The tables started turning when Prairie View's 2-3 zone defense prevented TSU from attacking the basket, allowing the Panthers to creep back into the contest.

Tekorian Smith hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers their first lead since the opening half at 52-49. Jones called a timeout to regroup his team at 4:19 left in the game. Smith finished the evening with 17 points and three rebounds and would later foul out.

Before then, Smith began to slow down the game as the Panthers led 54-50 lead with 2:47 on the scoreboard. Hegel Augustin completed an old fashion three-point play to expand PV's lead, 55-50.

The Tigers charged back on a nice spin move inside by Davon Barnes for a layup and the foul to edge closer 55-53 at 2:20 remaining.

Joirdan Karl Nicholas got a great assist inside and dunked the basketball to tie the game at 55.

Almost a minute later, Tekorian Smith committed his 5th foul on Joirdan Karl Nicholas, but Smith missed both free throws to stay knotted at 55.

Prairie View and TSU fought for the ball, but the Panthers had the possession arrow in their favor at 1:10 showing on the clock.

Hegel Augustin drove the lane causing Joirdan Karl Nicholas to foul out. He buried both free throws, and the Panthers had the 57-55 advantage at 47.8 seconds.

P.J. Henry missed a 3-point attempt. Kyle Harding fouled Davon Barnes on the rebound with 25.7 seconds showing. Barnes was calm and cool at the line and hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 57.

The Panthers' Jeremiah Gambrell missed a final chance for the win, and the game would head for overtime.

Jan. 28, 2023; Prairie View's Tekorian Smith (44) heads to the free throw line.  Credit: Kyle T. Mosley, HBCU Legends

1st Overtime

The intensity matched the overwhelming humidity inside H&PE Arena during the extra period.

TSU won the overtime tipoff, but Barnes traveled to give the Panthers the rock.

Prairie View's Kyle Harding squared up P.J. Henry to hit the bucket and foul shot. A few seconds later, Johnny Jones was warned by the refs when he complained after Barnes was slammed to the hardwood with a no-call.

Kyle Harding didn't have a conscious most of overtime and drained a 3-point shot for a 64-59 lead. Augustin followed with a mid-range connection to increase the PV lead to 66-59.

The officials had a weird and unexplained game stoppage of the action while Zytarious Mortle was hitting a three-pointer. There wasn't an apparent reason to momentarily stop the contest, but TSU edged closer 66-62

Mortle fouled Will Douglas went to the charity line, knocked down his free throws, and the Panthers comfortably had a 68-62 lead with 1:03 in OT.

NASA must have given clearance to Texas Southern's P.J. Henry as he launched a rocket 3-pointer to get closer at 68-65 with 56 seconds left.

The Panthers would keep the game out of reach for the Tigers as Hegel Augustin connected on free throws. Prairie View was again up by six points, 71-65, at 42 seconds.

TSU called a timeout with 34.1 seconds left as Prairie View clung to the lead. Braden Bell hit two free throws for TSU at 25 seconds for a 72-67 score.

Seconds later, P.J. Henry redialed NASA's mission control to fire off a missile bringing the game within 2 points at 72-70.

The Tigers created a Prairie View turnover on the out-of-bounds play at 19.2 seconds.

John Walker III was quiet during the second half and most of overtime. But when the Tigers needed their star player, he shrewdly collected a rebound and put in a nice layup with 5 seconds. The highly-contested match was tied at 72 to send the SWAC rivals into a 2nd overtime.

Prairie View scored the first six points of the 2nd OT with 3 minutes counting.

2nd OT

The second overtime wasn't close at all. Texas Southern finished the game like they started, deadly cold, scoring once in the period.

The Panthers' defense shut down any miraculous hopes by the Tigers and finally won 89-74 to give PV new life in conference play for 2023.

Team Leaders

TSU

• Davon Barnes - 19 points
• John Walker III - 15 points
• Zytarious Mortle - 14 points

PV

• Hegel Augustin - 21 points
• Tekorian Smith - 17 points
• Ricky Nelson - 15 points

Keys

Stat	Prairie View A&M	Texas Southern
Turnovers	25	15
Paint Points	34	42
Second Chance Points	14	20
Fast Breaks	8	14
Bench Production	23	17
Biggest Lead	15 points (2nd OT)	13 points (2nd half)