Blackston's double-double lifts Prairie View A&M past UAPB

Jan 29, 2019, 04:17 am

PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- Gary Blackston scored 29 points and the 6-foot-2 guard grabbed 11 rebounds to help Prairie View A&M win its eighth straight contest, beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 79-63 on Monday night.

Prairie View (9-11, 7-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) is now 17-2 in its last 19 conference games. The eight-game winning streak is the longest since 2014-15 when the Panthers won seven in a row.

Prairie View raced to a 15-0 lead with all five starters entering the scoring column. Chris Smith made 1 of 2 free throws for the Golden Lions' first point before the Panthers went on a 14-8 spurt to extend their lead to 29-9 with 9:21 before halftime. The Panthers led 43-24 at halftime after shooting 17 of 29 from the field (60.7 percent) and 7 of 13 from distance. UAPB never got closer than 13 points in the second half.

Blackston shot 9 of 13 from the field and made 10 of 15 at the free throw line. Dennis Jones scored 16, Devonte Patterson 13 and Gerard Andrus 10.

UAPB (7-13, 4-3) got 18 points from Terrance Banyard, who made all five of his shots from the field and 8 of 10 from the foul line. Martaveous McKnight scored 13 and went 10 of 12 from the foul line, Marquell Carter 10 with 10 rebounds and Shaun Doss 10 points.

The teams combined for 78 free-throw attempts.