Prairie View, Texas (February 23, 2019) -- Mississippi Valley State men's basketball team (5-23, 3-11 SWAC) dropped a close game on the road to the Panthers of Prairie View A&M, 69-63, Saturday in the William J. Nicks Arena. Senior Dante Scott led the Delta Devils in scoring for the 12^th time this season finishing with 18 points while freshman Patrick Rucker recorded a career-high 11 points against the Panthers.
 
Scott was 7-for-10 from the field, 4-for-7 from on three-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds. Rucker went 3-for-4 from three-point land, senior Gregory-Jones Rollins scored nine points with six rebounds and both senior Jordan Evans and sophomore Kaleb Allison each finished with eight points.
 
The Delta Devils took an early 12-point lead against the number one team in the SWAC, Prairie View (13-12, 11-1 SWAC), in Saturday afternoon's matchup behind Scott's 13 first-half points. In the first half, the Delta Devils were aggressive in the paint outscoring the Panthers 16-8.  With under 10 minutes to play in the first period, MVSU went on a 6-0 run to take a 29-19 lead, which they held throughout the remainder of the half. After Allison hit a jumper, the Delta Devils went into halftime with a 39-30 lead.
 
MVSU controlled the first half shooting 59.3 percent (16-27) from the field, 54.5 percent (6-11) from the three-point field, and 50 percent (1-2) from the free throw line compared to Prairie View's 32.3 percent (10-31) from the field, 30 percent (3-10) from the three-point field, and 58.3 percent (7-12) from the free throw line. The first half saw four ties and five lead changes with the Delta Devils leading for a span of 12:40.
 
Prairie View opened the second half on a 6-0 run, yet the Delta Devils earned trips to the free throw line and a layup by Jones-Rollins put Valley back in front of the Panthers 48-41. The Panthers pulled within one-point after Gary Blackston drained a three-pointer at the 12:07 mark. With 11:06 left in the second half, the Delta Devils were in foul trouble with four personal fouls on senior Emmanuel Ejeh and three on Jones-Rollins, senior Jordan Evans, and Scott. The Panthers capitalized on four of five Delta Devils starters being in foul trouble by making baskets in the paint, and then took a 55-54 lead at the 9:08 mark.
 
After leading by utmost seven points in the second half, the Delta Devils saw themselves trailing the Panthers 63-61 with 4:08 left on the clock. The rest of the game was a battle between the two teams to see who could capture momentum. Once the Panthers took the led they held on for the remaining four minutes. Evans made a pair of free throws with 1:32 left in regulation trimming the PVAMU deficit to two, 65-63. The Panthers forced a turnover and went coast-to-coast on a Devonte Patterson layup pushing their advantage back to four (67-63) with just over a minute left.
 
MVSU missed three attempts from long range and a pair of free throws in the final minute unable to make a final run to take the lead. PVAMU pushed their lead to 96-63 after two free throws, sweeping the season series with the Delta Devils.
 
MVSU outscored Prairie View 24-20 in the paint, but the Panthers outscored the Delta Devils 21-12 off turnovers and 18-2 off second-chance points. In the second period, MVSU shot 8-of-33 (24.2 percent) from the field, 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc, and 6-of-10 (60 percent) from the free throw line, which was a significant difference from their first half stats.
 
Patterson notched a double-double scoring 20 points with 13 rebounds, Blackston scored 13 points and Gerald Andrus had 11 points for the Panthers.
 
MVSU returns to action on Monday, Feb. 25 with their final road game of the season visiting Texas Southern for a 7:30 p.m. matchup.