Team Effort Leads PVAMU Panthers To Win Over Bethune-Cookman 89-80

GREELEY, Colorado  --  Demondre Chapman scored 21 points as the entire starting lineup scored in double figures in Prairie View A&M's 89-80 win over Bethune-Cookman in the third leg of the Colorado State Challenge on the campus of Northern Colorado Friday evening.

The Panthers led from start-to-finish as they wasted no time en route to an 11-1 lead with 14:43 left in the contest. BCU would trim its deficit to seven but the Panthers responded with a 10-2 run to lead 35-20 at the 5:19 mark. However, the comfortable lead would whittle down as the half came to an end as BCU drew to within 42-37 with 36 seconds left. With time winding down in the half, PVAMU junior forward Hershey Robinson nailed a pair of free throws to send the Panthers into the locker room up 44-37.

Prairie View A&M took BCU's best punch to open the second half as its lead dwindled down to 51-49 less than four minutes in. Sensing the momentim slipping away, junior guard Montrael Scott nailed a trey for a 54-49 lead coupled with three straight points from Chapman for a 57-51 advantage at the 14:20 mark. BCU once again kept nipping on PVAMU's heels as they closed to within four points nearly a minute later but the Panthers fought back with an 8-0 run which spanned three minutes to jump ahead 65-53.

From that point, the Panthers led comfortably and remained in control for the rest of the contest as the closest BCU would get was a seven-point margin on two occassions. Prairie View A&M was solid from the free throw line as they sealed the contest by shooting 19-of-23 from the charity stripe in the second half.

Chapman led the Panthers with 21 points and nine rebounds followed by 18 from Scott, 14 from Robinson and 10 apiece from Tre Hagood and John Brisco. Hagood also dished out 10 assists while Jules Montgomery grabbed six rebounds, forced three steals and blocked two shots.The challenge comes to an end on Sunday as the Panthers face tourney host Northern Colorado at 3 p.m.

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COURTESY PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION