Blackston scores 24; Prairie View A&M beats Southern 78-74 (Jan 03, 2018)

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (AP) Gary Blackston scored 24 points and Zachary Hamilton added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to help Prairie View A&M hold on for a 78-74 win over Southern on Wednesday night.

Austin Starr had 14 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals, and Dennis Jones finished with 11 points, five assists and five steals for Prairie View (5-11, 2-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference). The Panthers are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

Blackston hit two free throws to give PVAMU a 66-65 lead before Hamilton sandwiched a 3-pointer and a jumper around a free throw by Southern's Aaron Ray to give the Panthers a five-point lead. Jamar Sandifer's jumper pulled the Jaguars to 71-69 with three minutes left, but Blackston answered with a jumper and Prairie View hit 5-of-6 free throws from there to seal it.

Sandifer, a sophomore transfer from Kilgore College, had a career-high 26 points for Southern (4-11, 0-2).

Prairie View led 49-33 in the opening minute of the second half, but Sandifer scored all of Southern's points in an 8-1 spurt over the next two minutes that cut the deficit to nine points and a free throw by Emmanuel Sheperd gave the Jaguars a 63-62 lead with seven minutes to go.