Southern University beats Prairie View to gain NCAA Tournament berth

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Prairie View A&M's Carl Blair, left, and Mayol Riathin, right, reach for a rebound in front of Southern's Christopher Hyder in the first half of the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday in Garland, Texas. (Photo by Tony Gutierrez / The Associated Press)

Louisiana will have at least one team in the NCAA men?s basketball tournament. Southern University held off a late rally by Prairie View and came away with a 45-44 victory in the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Garland, Texas.

The Jaguars (23-9) will be making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. But it was close.

Southern led 45-38 with 1:38 to play when the Panthers (15-19) scored six unanswered points to get back into the game. Prairie View?s Montrael Scott hit a jumper in the lane with 42 seconds left to cut the lead to 45-44.

Southern then ran the clock down to seven seconds. Jaguars point guard Jameel Grace missed a 3-point shot from near the top of the key with seven seconds left and Prairie View got the rebound.

But Panthers? guard Jourdan Demuynck turned the ball over without getting a shot off as time expired, giving Southern the victory.

The Jaguars used a 7-0 run late that gave them the 45-38 lead. That run started with 3:40 to play when senior forward Brandon Moore, from Holy Cross, hit a layup. Moore scored five of the seven points in the run.

Both teams struggled offensively. Southern was 15 of 45 from the field (33 percent) and Prairie View was 17 of 51 (33 percent). But the Jaguars were good on 14 of 19 free throws.

Southern was led by forward Derick Beltran, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Demuynck led Prairie View with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Source: http://www.nola.com/bayouclassic/index.ssf/2013/03/southern_university_beats_prai.html

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