Dontae Horne scored 25 factors as Prairie View A&M earned its first ever NCAA Match victory with a 67-55 win over Lehigh in a First 4 matchup Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio.
In a contest between Sixteenth-seeded longshots, the Panthers (19-17) dominated the second half, outscoring the Mountain Hawks (18-17) by a 40-26 margin. Prairie View A&M advances to face South Area No. 1 seed Florida, the defending match champion, on Friday in Tampa.
Cory Wells contributed 19 factors, 11 rebounds, three steals and three blocks for the Panthers, who solely had 5 gamers rating. Lance Williams pitched in with 10 factors, whereas Horne added seven rebounds and 4 steals.
“I believed in these guys from the very begin,” Panthers coach Byron Smith mentioned. “An ideal group of youngsters. … I knew we had been going to get it going.”
Hank Alvey notched 23 factors and a career-high 15 rebounds for Lehigh, which was within the Massive Dance for the primary time since 2012. Nasir Whitlock, who got here in averaging a team-leading 21.0 factors, managed solely 5 factors on 2-of-15 taking pictures from the sphere.
After trailing by two at halftime, Prairie View A&M scored eight of the primary 9 factors within the second half to go in entrance 35-30.
Lehigh received inside 37-36 on Alvey’s layup a couple of minutes later, however the Panthers promptly made one other push.
Horne scored 10 factors in about 4 minutes to assist Prairie View A&M take a 49-41 lead. Wells adopted with a jumper to present the Panthers their first double-digit benefit.
Joshua Ingram countered with a 3-pointer for the Mountain Hawks, however Williams and Horne responded with a bucket apiece to revive a double-digit lead.
Horne made a number of contested layups down the stretch to spotlight his 16-point second half.
“First half, we sort of struggled,” Horne mentioned. “We had been attempting to really feel them out. However the second half, we got here out taking part in more durable, taking part in more durable. And all of us needed to actually lock in. That was it.”
The sport was tied at 15-all halfway by way of the primary half earlier than Andre Urosevic made back-to-back 3-pointers as a part of an 8-0 Lehigh run.
The Panthers by no means caught up within the first half, though Horne’s bucket within the closing minute received Prairie View A&M inside 29-27 on the break.
Alvey led all gamers with 10 factors and 9 rebounds within the first half.
–Discipline Stage Media
