Blackston's 24 points leads Prairie View over Southern 77-69

Mar 4, 2018, 02:16 am

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Gary Blackston scored 24 points with four rebounds and four assists and Prairie View A&M beat Southern 77-69 on Saturday in a regular-season finale.

Zachary Hamilton added 22 points and six rebounds for the Panthers (15-17, 12-6 Southwestern Athletic Conference) who head to the SWAC Tournament quarterfinals on March 6. Dennis Jones had 13 points and JD Wallace grabbed 12 rebounds.

Prairie View trailed 36-28 at halftime but battled back early in the second half and a Blackston 3-point play gave the Panthers a 52-50 edge with 8:21 to go. Hamilton sank two 3-pointers and Thompson and Dennis Jones each made another as part of a 13-4 run that extended it to 69-57 lead with 2:16 remaining.

Eddie Reese and Chris Thomas scored 13 points apiece for the Jaguars (14-17, 10-8). Jared Sam added 12 points and eight rebounds.